Sea of Okhotsk Season A is over. At last.
As Megafishnet.com mentioned a month ago, this year A-season for Russian pollock lasted longer than usual, and now it is over.
As it turned out, when East Sakhalin pollock fishery happened to become MSC certified, fishing activity in the area was higher than in previous years. The catch has not finished even at the time of this article writing. Anyway, it didn’t save the season.
This year pollock catch was 895 th. MT, just 86% of the previous year. Production structure changed substantially. The fishermen concentrated on fillet and mince production and increased in 22% YOY, while HG and WR decreased. Reasons are well known, it is related to logistics problems in China.
|
01.01.2021-30.04.2021 |
% |
Δ, mt |
Δ, % |
01.01.2020-30.04.2020 |
|
|
Pollock H/G |
359 635 |
75.0% |
-120 003 |
-25.02% |
479 638 |
|
Pollock W/R |
40 705 |
82.5% |
-8 608 |
-17.46% |
49 313 |
|
Fillets (all types) |
50 382 |
121.1% |
8 778 |
21.10% |
41 604 |
|
Mince |
9 014 |
123.0% |
1 683 |
22.96% |
7 331 |
|
Roe |
27 917 |
87.1% |
-4 134 |
-12.90% |
32 051 |
|
Milt |
5 669 |
77.5% |
-1 643 |
-22.47% |
7 312 |
|
Fishmeal |
33 183 |
88.7% |
-4 227 |
-11.30% |
37 410 |
|
Surimi |
572 |
- |
572 |
- |
- |
|
Liver |
154 |
34.1% |
-298 |
-65.93% |
452 |
|
Oil |
154 |
124.2% |
30 |
24.19% |
124 |
|
Other retained product |
572 |
43.7% |
-736 |
-56.27% |
1 308 |
|
TOTAL |
527 957 |
80.4% |
-128 586 |
-19.59% |
656 543 |
|
YTD APO catch in Russia |
894 720 |
85.8% |
-148 660 |
-14.25% |
1 043 380 |
|
Fish utilisation, %% production |
59.0% |
93.8% |
-3.92% |
-6.22% |
62.9% |
At the same time, herring catch increased 32%. As can be seen below, filleting was very active at herring fishery as well. It is important that even increased fillet production couldn’t satisfy demand.
|
|
01.01.2021-30.04.2021 |
01.01.2020-30.04.2020 |
%% |
|
Pacific herring catch YTD |
153 574 |
115 550 |
132.9% |
|
Fishmeal |
18 |
- |
|
|
WR |
129 640 |
103 057 |
125.8% |
|
Fillet |
9 053 |
4 701 |
192.6% |
|
TOTAL |
138 711 |
107 758 |
128.7% |
It happened that A-season in Alaska finished at about the same time. Pollock catch was very much the same, but production of almost all the products decreased substantially.
|
USA |
01.01.2021-01.05.2021 |
% |
Δ, mt |
Δ, % |
01.01.2020-02.05.2020 |
|
Pollock H/G |
15 269 |
89.7% |
-1 750 |
-10.28% |
17 019 |
|
Pollock W/R |
238 |
47.8% |
-260 |
-52.21% |
498 |
|
Fillets (all types) |
53 610 |
73.1% |
-19 708 |
-26.88% |
73 318 |
|
Mince |
12 726 |
119.2% |
2 052 |
19.22% |
10 674 |
|
Roe |
16 564 |
67.9% |
-7 829 |
-32.10% |
24 393 |
|
Milt |
702 |
92.2% |
-59 |
-7.75% |
761 |
|
Fishmeal |
30 495 |
94.4% |
-1 821 |
-5.63% |
32 316 |
|
Surimi |
80 106 |
99.8% |
-151 |
-0.19% |
80 257 |
|
Oil |
3 970 |
98.5% |
-59 |
-1.46% |
4 029 |
|
Other retained product |
3 715 |
71.2% |
-1 505 |
-28.83% |
5 220 |
|
TOTAL |
217 395 |
87.5% |
-31 090 |
-12.51% |
248 485 |
|
YTD APO catch, USA |
659 737 |
98.7% |
-8 844 |
-1.32% |
668 581 |
|
Fish utilisation, %% production |
33.0% |
88.7% |
-4.21% |
-11.34% |
37.2% |
As pollock A-seasons ended at both ends of North Pacific, it is now possible to look at production and to make some rough market forecasts.
|
Total |
01.01.2021-30.04.2021 |
% |
Δ, mt |
Δ, % |
01.01.2020-30.04.2020 |
|
Pollock H/G |
374 904 |
75.5% |
-121 753 |
-24.51% |
496 657 |
|
Pollock W/R |
40 943 |
82.2% |
-8 868 |
-17.80% |
49 811 |
|
Fillets (all types) |
103 992 |
90.5% |
-10 930 |
-9.51% |
114 922 |
|
Mince |
21 740 |
120.7% |
3 735 |
20.74% |
18 005 |
|
Roe |
44 481 |
78.8% |
-11 963 |
-21.19% |
56 444 |
|
Milt |
6 371 |
78.9% |
-1 702 |
-21.08% |
8 073 |
|
Fishmeal |
63 678 |
91.3% |
-6 048 |
-8.67% |
69 726 |
|
Surimi |
80 678 |
100.5% |
421 |
0.52% |
80 257 |
|
Liver |
154 |
34.1% |
-298 |
-65.93% |
452 |
|
Oil |
4 124 |
99.3% |
-29 |
-0.70% |
4 153 |
|
Other retained product |
4 287 |
65.7% |
-2 241 |
-34.33% |
6 528 |
|
TOTAL |
745 352 |
82.4% |
-159 676 |
-17.64% |
905 028 |
|
YTD catch, Russia + USA |
1 554 457 |
90.8% |
-157 504 |
-9.20% |
1 711 961 |
|
Fish utilisation, %% production |
47.9% |
90.7% |
-4.92% |
-9.30% |
52.9% |
Surimi and mince markets are not supposed to suffer. As for fillet – quite the opposite. Single frozen shortage of 10 thousand tons will not be substituted by double frozen this time. HG shortage supposes shortage of double frozen fillet as well. Almost 18% underproduction of WR might be compensated later on, turmoil at Korean market would be just temporary. All the roe producers discussed possibility of production cut for years. At last, it happened without their coordinated actions. However, this would hardly be enough to improve the market. The latest auctions in Busan and Fukuoka didn’t show price increase.
For copyright please contact Vera Aldokhina at vera@megafishnet.com.