Russia imports 20% less fish in Jan-Nov
MOSCOW. Dec 13 (Interfax) - Russia cut its imports of fish by more than 20% in January-November, which was the largest drop in the last ten years, the head of Russian federal fisheries agency Rosrybolovstvo's PR center Alexander Savelyev told Interfax.
Citing preliminary Federal Customs Service (FCS) figures, Savelyev said that Russia had imported 394,300 tonnes of whole frozen fish over the eleven months, which was 21.9% less year-on-year (505,000 tonnes in January-November 2010).
Fish exports were up 6% from 1.119 million tonnes at 1.186 million tonnes for the period.
The numbers clearly show the process of import-replacement that has been in full swing on the Russian fish market for several years, Savelyev said. "And imported substandard quality fish often squeezes out quality domestic product that is better to eat," he said.
This is a natural process, Savelyev said. "Stable annual growth in the catching of fish at 4%-5% pushes out imported fish and fish-product and brings Russia nearer to food security, which limits the proportion of imported fish to 20%," he said. According to the country's food security doctrine, Russian fish is to represent at least 80% of the domestic market before 2020.
Rosrybolovstvo data indicate that since the start of the year Russian fishermen had caught more than 3.9 million tonnes of fish, 204,000 tonnes (5.5%) more than in the same period last year. They had harvested 374,400 tonnes of cod (up 11.9%), 392,400 tonnes of herring (up 7.5%), 62,100 tonnes of saury (up 90%), 13,000 tonnes of anchovy (up 16%), 41,100 tonnes of crab (up 10.2%), and 69,100 tonnes of squid (up 7.2%).
As of end-November, the salmon catch was over 520,000 tonnes versus the record 538,000 tones in 2009.
Rosrybolovstvo predicts that by year-end the drop in imports could top 20% - to 430,000-435,000 tonnes.
