Russia's Okhotsk pollock fishery winds up in new market conditions

According to Russia's pollock fishermen, as per early May the ratio of export and domestic shipments of pollock products is being driven not by prices but by the wholesalers' readiness to secure stable purchases of pollock products during the whole year, reports www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) with reference to fishery sources in Vladivostok.

In fact, the price conditions both on the domestic and on the external markets have leveled out. More specifically, the price per tonne of headed pollock ex-vessel/railway car in Vladivostok amounts to RUB40,000-42,000 while the price CIF Qingdao amounts to RUB42,000-43,000 per tonne. On the international market headed pollock has depreciated by 20% as compared to December 2008.

The dedicated pollock fishery in the Sea of Okhotsk (Okhotsk season A) ended in midnight of 20 April 2009. The fishery was conducted by up to 185 vessels of various types, the pollock harvest approached to 640,000 tonnes, the roe yield amounted to 24,250 tonnes according to provisional figures. In the course of the season the output of APO products of all the Russian fishery businesses amounted to 400,000 tonnes. The fleets shipped ca.60,000 tonnes of pollock products for the domestic market and ca.300,000 tonnes were shipped for export. The remaining volumes have been in transit to ports as per 3 May 2009.

The pollock fishery in winter-spring 2009 has resulted into a 73.4% take-up of the pollock TAC. The companies based in Chukotka, Kamchatka and Magadan have covered their commercial quotas at more than 80%. The take-up of the regional quotas of Sakhalin, Vladivostok-led Primorye and Khabarovsk has been recorded at 67-75%.

The remainder of the pollock TAC for the Okhotsk autumn season B amounts to 230,000 tonnes, a part of which will be covered as bycatch on the inshore grounds in summer and partly during the herring fishery.