Overview of freshfrozen fish market of Saint Petersburg and other regions as per mid-September 2007

The demand for fish products has been gradually rising in connection with the forthcoming start of the fishing season and there have been some other interesting developments on the market of St. Petersburg, Russia's main entry port for seafood, trading sources told http://www.fishnet-russia.com/ (https://www.fishnet.ru/).

Below follow more details on particular species with average prices given as ex-coldstore VAT inclusive for quantities of between 1-10 metric tons unless specified otherwise.

Freshfrozen herring

As per early September 2007 Saint-Petersburg traders offered mostly Russian herring from the new summer catch.

The herring fishery was fairly good and prices were smoothly decreasing from RUR15.00 per kilo in the middle of August to RUR13.00 per kilo of the size 200-300 (poorly graded product classified as large and fat) in the middle of September current.

Norwegian herring 300+ was available from RUR27.00 to RUR29.00, while the same Russian product was marketed at RUR26.00 per kilo.

Mackerel

Russian mackerel head-off was offered from RUR69.00 per kilo of the size 300+ and RUR55.00 of the size 200-300.

Baltic herring, Baltic sprat

As the old inventories of good quality Baltic sprat and Baltic herring had been already sold off (the last good quality fish was harvested in April 2007), prices for the products as per mid-September were stable at RUR16.50-17.00 per kilo.

Before the beginning of the new fishery (mid-October) the prices were not expected to go down.

Finnish herring packed in pallets was marketed from RUR17.00 per kilo in Saint Petersburg. The same product packed in boxes was offered from RUR18.00 per kilo.

Blue whiting

In August the fishermen were harvesting herring, therefore by the beginning of autumn the market supply of blue whiting continued to be low. The prices for the product remained at RUR19.50-20.00 per kilo ex-coldstore in Saint Petersburg.

Capelin

Capelin prices remained at RUR28.00-31.00 per kilo depending on the size. The traders offered both Icelandic capelin harvested in February 2007 and large Canadian capelin 30/40 from RUR30.00 per kilo. The situation was stable evidently because the prices reached the limit of the consumer demand for the species.

Pink salmon and squid

Pink salmon in the Russian Far East was offered from RUR35.00 to RUR40.00 per kilo depending on the quality and volume, while in Moscow pink salmon from the new harvest was marketed from RUR48.00 to RUR50.00 per kilo.

A certain shortage of squid was observed on the market. In Moscow squid tubes from the Russian Far East appreciated to RUR80.00 and RUR90.00 per kilo, therefore the traders started offering squid from Argentina. Squid 23-25 cm was available from RUR65.00 per kilo in Saint Petersburg.

Pangasius catfish

As the list of importers authorized to supply fish from Vietnam was not yet fully finalized and as the fishing season was expected to start only in late September, the prices on the market went up from RUR75.00 per kilo to RUR90.00-95.00 per kilo. The growing trend was expected to persist in the future.

Salmon

Chilean salmon 5-6, 6-7 was marketed from RUR180.00 per kilo, while the Norwegian fish was priced at RUR10.00 more.

Chilean trout 1.8-2.7 was available from RUR155.00 per kilo.

Hake

In the coming weeks the market analysts were forecasting a shortage of hake on the market due to poor catches in Argentina. As per mid-September 2007 HGT hake 300-500 appreciated from RUR60.00 to RUR65.00 per kilo. The price was expected to reach RUR70.00 per kilo in the weeks to come.

Wholesale prices ex-coldstore in Vladivostok, dateline 12 September 2007

Wholesale prices ex-coldstore in Saint Petersburg, dateline 12 September 2007