RUSSIA INCREASING ITS FISH EXPORTS

Russia increasing its fish exports. Alaska pollock, shrimp and other seafood have become the drivers of the development of food expansion by Russia to foreign markets. The volume of their exports last year increased by 5.6 percent – up to 2.2 million tons.

But these successes have yet to be consolidated and developed. Russia, with its catches, has every chance to take a leading position. The secret of the already achieved success, as experts say, is simple – fishermen and seafood producers are provided with various financial and non-financial support measures within the framework of the international cooperation and export national project. And this work will continue.

The ‘Exporter of the Year’ competition has already become a tradition in Kamchatka. According to the governor of the region, Vladimir Solodov, this is a good way to demonstrate the successes of our exporters, to tell the whole of Russia and foreign partners about them.

Last year the winner in the category ‘Exporter of the Year in the Sphere of Agro-Industrial Complex’ was the fish processing enterprise ‘Maksimovsky’. It supplies frozen fish products to South Korea, Japan, China and Moldova. Despite the coronavirus restrictions that affected the entire world trade in 2020, Maksimovsky maintained a positive export trend.

The second place in the competition belongs to the Dolphin fishing and processing enterprise, well-known in the Kamchatka Territory. Among all the contestants, it has the largest pool of foreign buyers. But in the category “Breakthrough of the Year” the winner was Kamchattralflot. It was the first to export frozen fish products, fishmeal and fish oil. The export countries were South Korea, Vietnam and the Netherlands.

But this is not only recognition and applause. The Kamchatka Krai Export Support Centre has prepared several prizes for the winners of the competition. The laureates will be able to choose the one that they need to further unleash their potential. Among the prizes – an individual stand, purchase of air tickets or payment for a hotel at an international exhibition. As well as training in business English and many others.

The Moscow Region has become one of the leaders in the export of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates.

Is it a lot or a little, say, participation in an international exhibition? Here is what the head of the Tambov sturgeon fish-breeding complex Alexey Ovsyannikov says about it:

“We launched three years ago. We have established the process of growing from eggs to adult fish. We produce cold and hot smoked products, fish semi-finished products, offal and fish snacks. We launched the second stage of the complex. And they began to suffocate with sales. And then the export support centre of the Tambov region offered us a shoulder. Thanks to him, we became participants in an international exhibition. We presented our products there. And … we got new contracts.

“We are talking about the International exhibition of equipment and technologies for the extraction, breeding and processing of fish and seafood AquaPro Expo 2021. It was held in Moscow. There were also representatives of the Moscow region. This region has become one of the leaders in the export of products from fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates. Last year, the Moscow region delivered 5.4 thousand tons of products abroad. The main buyers were China, Germany, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Korea, Lithuania. Only 15 countries.

Grigory Voloshin, Deputy Director of the Centre for Economic Research of Fisheries, All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, said:

“Of course, the domestic market remains a priority for the fish industry. To increase the variety and availability of products for our consumers, they not only build new factories, but also develop the industry infrastructure.

“At the same time, by covering domestic needs for the main types of food products, we strive to increase their supplies abroad. Over the past 10 years, the volume of the Russian catch increased by more than 930 thousand tons, or 23 percent, and amounted to 4.97 million tons at the end of 2020. The main volume of export supplies is, of course, frozen pollock. And in general, frozen fish still accounts for 85 percent of the supply.”

However, now the industry is deliberately moving away from raw material exports and increasing the share of products with high added value – it seeks to supply finished products, not raw materials. The share of fillets in the export structure increased to 8 percent. Of course, this is still the beginning of the journey.

70 percent – this is how much real growth in the export of non-primary non-energy goods will be by 2030 compared to 2020 thanks to the international cooperation and export national project

And now everything is being done in order to interest the manufacturer in the export of finished products. For those companies that build modern vessels with waste-free fish processing factories and onshore factories, the state provides additional quotas for fishing. Using this mechanism, five ships have already been built and delivered to customers, 19 plants with a total capacity of 650 thousand tons have been built. The implementation of the remaining projects within the first stage will provide an additional 2.6 million tons of processing capacity. These are more than 50 vessels, including super trawlers, and five more coastal factories.

In addition, suppliers of fish products have access to all the main instruments under the state program to support the export of agricultural products. Among them, compensation for 25 percent of the costs of construction of enterprises for processing and preserving fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Granting subsidies to compensate for up to 30 percent of the cost of transporting food products and reimbursement of up to 50 percent of the cost of product certification. As well as subsidising loans for the development of production of fishery and fish farming, construction of port infrastructure facilities with refrigeration facilities.

Also, the state helps exporters in opening new sales markets. To establish business contacts, for several years now, Russian fish market participants have been participating in major international industry exhibitions under the auspices of the Federal Agency for Fishery. Every year in Russia, the International Fisheries Forum and Exhibition of the Fish Industry, Seafood and Technologies began to be held. This year this joint event will be held for the fourth time. Traditionally, companies and official delegations from leading fishing countries take part in it. On the site of the forum and exhibition, one can not only discuss topical issues, but also reach substantive business agreements.

Therefore, the events associated with the pandemic, although they slowed down the supply of pollock to China, at the same time accelerated the change in export policy. The industry is now focused on progressive geographic and product diversification of supplies. During the first four months, the volumes of supplies of Russian fish products to Japan, South Korea, the countries of the European Union, Africa and Latin America have grown significantly. For example, exports to South Korea and Japan have doubled, to the Republic of Nigeria – from almost zero to 21 thousand tons. This year Benin, Ghana, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Panama and other states appeared among our importers.

New data from the scientific voyage confirmed the emergence of a super-productive generation of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk pink salmon, the Federal Agency for Fishery reports on its official website.

More than 980 million salmon have been counted across all survey areas. Pink salmon accounted for 92 percent. Traditionally, chum salmon took the second place among salmon, both in terms of abundance and biomass. Also in the southern and southeastern regions, dense accumulations of mackerel and Far Eastern Iwashi sardine were found.

The scientific voyage was carried out by scientists of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean from early June to mid-July on the research vessel TINRO, the joint press service of the Federal Agency for Fishery said.

Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta