Trends on Ukraine's canned fish market in 2008

In the first eight months of 2008 the Ukrainian plants produced 51,000 metric tons of canned fish products in vinegar, oil, marinade and in tomato source, according to the nation's State Statistics Committee. Marketing specialists of Interrybflot-Ukraine say that in the first quarter of 2008 the share of the Ukrainian canned fish on the domestic market amounted to 86.4%, while imported canned fish accounted for 13.6%, reports www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) with reference to Produkty&Ingredienty.

In the first half of the year the domestic production grew by 0.3% to 86.7%. (Certainly, the above mentioned figures are only estimates and they need to be specified as to particular types of canned fish products.) Director of Interrybflot-Ukraine Dmitry Slovachevsky says that the importers deal mostly in these products which are not produced in the Ukraine due to the absence of the raw material (e.g. pink salmon, saury, tuna, cod liver, salmon caviar, squid, mussels, oysters) and these are the products which imports may be rising.

Import

According to the Ukrainian State Statistics Committee, in the first six months of 2008 the nation's import of products of the HSC group 1604000000 "ready-to-eat or canned fish, sturgeon caviar and other fish roe" amounted to 36,100 tonnes worth 56.6 million USD. Export of products of the same group amounted to 12,500 tonnes worth 16.4 million USD. In other words import figures exceeded export indices more than twice. As for the HSC group 1604130000 "canned fish from sardine, sardinella, Baltic herring and sprat", the Committee says that in the first eight months of 2008 the Ukraine exported 9800 tonnes of canned products of the given group at 11.1 million USD and imported 14,000 tonnes of such products worth 7.5 million USD. Even for traditional canned fish products import exceeded export.

Russia, Estonia and Latvia were the largest suppliers of canned fish to the Ukraine in 2007 and in the first half of 2008. The first place in volume terms in the first six months of 2008 was taken by Estonia with a result of 8900 tonnes of canned fish products of the HSC group 1604130000 worth 3.8 million USD. The second place was taken by Latvia with a result of 4200 tonnes and 2.3 million USD, and the third place belonged to Russia with 819 tonnes and 1.3 million USD.

While Russia succeeded in a gradual reduction of import of canned fish from the Baltic states by means of increasing own production of canned sprats, the Ukraine is still far from forcing these imported products out of the market despite presence of conditions for boosting own production. Nevertheless, canned sprats are produced by Interrybflot (TM Akvamarin), Proliv (TM Proliv), RKZ Equator and some other producers.

The Ukrainian producers export mostly cheap fish. According to the State Statistics Committee, a considerable rise of export was observed in 2001 as compared to the results of 2000, namely in value terms the export grew 7.2 times. But already in 2002 and 2003 it dramatically decreased. More specifically, while in 2001 the Ukrainian producers exported canned fish worth approximately 8.3 million USD, in 2003 the value dropped to only 2.4 million USD. Starting from 2004 there has been a positive dynamics of growing export volumes.

Operators say that the Ukrainian market of canned fish is fairly stable and no drastic fluctuations have been observed. However, the segment is forecasted to display consolidation trends and withdrawal of less successful producers from the market. The share of imported products will remain high for the items which are not produced in the Ukraine. Medium-size producers which have been trying to retain leading positions on the market will run into more problems while operating on the market. The situation will be even more complicated by worsening economic situation in the country, forecasted rise of prices and certainly by stronger competition and fight for retail shelves.

Table 1. Import of canned sardine, sardinella, Baltic sprat (HSC group 1604130000) to the Ukraine (according to the State Statistics Committee)

Table 2. Import of canned sardine, sardinella, Baltic sprat (HSC group 1604130000) from Estonia to the Ukraine (according to the State Statistics Committee)

Table 3. Import of canned sardine, sardinella, Baltic sprat (HSC group 1604130000) from Latvia to the Ukraine (according to the State Statistics Committee)

Table 4. Import of canned sardine, sardinella, Baltic sprat (HSC group 1604130000) from Lithuania to the Ukraine (according to the State Statistics Committee)

Table 5. Export of canned sardine, sardinella, Baltic sprat (HSC group 1604130000) to the Ukraine (according to the State Statistics Committee)