Russian exports of frozen snow crab to US surging
Unlike king crab, in December 2020 American import of frozen snow crab was even weaker than in November and much lower than in December 2019.
Sales of both Russian and Canadian products developed slowly, but those fisheries were actually behind almost the entire increase in total imports which showed a strong rise by the end of 2020.
Total imports in December amounted to only about 1.25 thousand metric tons, 12% down year-on-year, with Russian supplies falling by 18% to 760 tonnes and Canadian - by 55% to just 100 tonnes. At the same time, imports from Greenland increased by one third to 150 tonnes, while Norwegian supplies increased by 44% to more than 200 tonnes, which, however, did not significantly affect the overall picture. At the same time, prices for all leading sources exceeded the level of US$20.00/kg, and the average price of imports from Russia reached US$20.90/kg, rising by 41% compared to December 2019 and again exceeding the average price of imports from Canada.
Import of frozen snow crab to the USA in 2019-2020
|
Canada |
Russia |
Total |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
MT |
US$/kg |
MT |
US$/kg |
MT |
US$/kg |
|
|
2019 |
||||||
|
total |
32,967 |
19.01 |
10,578 |
14.55 |
46,181 |
17.95 |
|
2020 |
||||||
|
July |
7,889 |
18.58 |
2,333 |
15.69 |
10,614 |
17.94 |
|
August |
2,120 |
18.63 |
3,315 |
17.39 |
5,865 |
18.09 |
|
September |
470 |
17.61 |
2,970 |
18.74 |
3,739 |
18.84 |
|
October |
230 |
22.82 |
1,966 |
19.86 |
2,374 |
20.06 |
|
November |
156 |
17.77 |
1,721 |
20.98 |
1,980 |
20.70 |
|
December |
101 |
20.77 |
761 |
20.90 |
1,248 |
21.10 |
|
total |
35,737 |
16.90 |
19,047 |
17.56 |
57,550 |
17.26 |
Note: 1) average FAS import prices; 2) in the "total" column data on deliveries from all sources including Norway and Greenland; 3) in the "total" row data on deliveries from the beginning of the year; 4) according to the US NOAA Fisheries
The overall price level of Russian imports to the United States rose by 20.5% to more than US$17.55/kg (4% higher than the prices of Canadian imports), which was simply impossible to imagine a couple of years ago. The volume of imports of Сanadian opilio increased by 8% to ca.35.75 thousand tonnes. Meanwhile, imports from Russia jumped by 80% to 19.05 thousand tonnes. The latter result corresponds to 33% of the total U.S. imports of frozen snow crab (in 2019, the share was less than 23%), which rose by almost 25% to 57.55 thousand tonnes, a record high result for the recent years.