Operational data from Rosstat shared by the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency – or Rosrybolovstvo – indicates Russia’s output of seafood products was up 9 percent year over year in the first 11 months of 2023.
The data, shared to Rosrybolovstvo’s website, indicates that Russia’s production between January and November 2023 increased to about 4.1 million metric tons (MT) – an increase of 329,000 MT compared to the same period of 2022.
Of that total, the production of frozen fish comprised 2.8 million MT, which is an increase of 11 percent compared to the same period of 2022. Frozen fish fillets, meanwhile, reached 205,000 MT, and minced meat and frozen fish meat reached 84,000 MT – which, according to Rosrybolovstvo, is a year-over-year increase of 14 percent.
Cooked, canned fish and caviar resulted in an output of 595,000 MT, which is up 5 percent compared to 2022.
The production of crustaceans, mollusks, and aquatic invertebrates – frozen and cooked – increased by 18.5 percent to 171,000 MT.
Finally, the country produced 162,000 MT of aquatic bioresources “unsuitable for consumption," – an increase of 10 percent.
Reflecting on the year as a whole, Russian Federal Fisheries Agency Head Ilya Shestakov said that the country had a record year in terms of catch.
“This year’s total catch is a record for the Russian fishery,” he said. “The salmon fishing season was very successful, becoming the second-largest catch in the history of observations.”
The increased production by Russia came amid a mixed year for portions of the country’s supply chain. The nation’s pollock industry – one of the largest fisheries by volume in the world and a major source of revenue – exported higher volumes but saw a lower export value in 2023, according to the Russian Pollock Catchers Association. The association predicts that the country will catch as much as 1.98 million MT of pollock in total in 2023 and that it has produced 1.1 million MT of pollock products but saw its value drop 5 percent year over year to USD 1.2 billion (EUR 1.1 billion).
The country is also facing a new U.S. ban on exports covering salmon, cod, pollock, and crab. The Russian pollock industry, however, has said the ban will have little impact.
Photo courtesy of the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency
