New developments on Saint Petersburg frozen fish market in December 2006

As per mid-December 2006 the freshfrozen fish market of St. Petersburg, Russia's main entry port for seafood, has been facing strengthened control of seafood imports and stricter procedures of product clearance at the customs, trading sources told RFR.

In particular in November the Russian authorities cut the number of land-based check points authorized to let freshfrozen fish imports through the nation's border with the Baltic States, Finland, Ukraine and Belarus. On 1 December 2006 the Northwest Customs Department circulated an order on tighter monitoring of the product compliance with declared HSC codes during customs clearance and fuller examination of cargoes.

All the above developments have caused further changes connected with introduction of quotas for receiving and handling containers by largest terminals of Saint Petersburg - CJSC ZAO PKT and OAO Petrolesport (plc).

In particular, according to the line agents, the feeder fleets owned by UF and Team Lines have actually been halved. Therefore, the number of calls of the above feeder lines to the Saint Petersburg harbor may decrease to tell on the term of cargo shipment and to increase the product storage time in European ports.

Below follow more details on particular species with average prices given as ex-coldstore VAT inclusive for quantities of between 1-10 metric tons unless specified otherwise.

Freshfrozen herring

Starting from end of November 2006 the herring market has been facing a smooth increase of prices in Norway. On the market of Saint Petersburg herring has appreciated to RUR27.00-28.00 per kilo for the size 300+ and from RUR29.50 to RUR34.00 per kilo of the size 350+.

Herring 400+, Norway, was offered from RUR41.00 per kilo FCA Saint Petersburg harbor.

As per mid-December, the fishery of large size herring was closed and smaller herring in Norway was processed mainly into fillets and graded as 300+ category.

Poorly graded herring 200-300 classified by the Russians as large and fat was marketed at up to RUR20.00 per kilo in Saint Petersburg and in the weeks to come the product's prices were expected to grow further to RUR23.00-24.00 per kilo.

Mackerel

In the middle of December 2006 the situation on the mackerel market of Saint Petersburg remained practically unchanged as compared to the previous month.

Norwegian mackerel 400-600 from the autumn harvest was sold from RUR63.00 ex-coldstore, while the size 600+ was offered from RUR60.00 per kilo. Russian mackerel head-off 300+ was marketed from RUR75.00 per kilo ex-coldstore.

According to traders, prices for the species may slightly grow in view of coming turn-of-the-year holidays.

Baltic herring, Baltic sprat

Suspension of several check points to serve as entry points for seafood coming into Russia from abroad has let to idleness and queuing of truck fleet and consequent rise of transportation costs.

Then, due to extraordinary warm weather this year the fleets have been landing Baltic herring and sprat of fairly low quality fit only for canning. As per mid-December, the supply of Baltic herring and sprat was not very high. Due to the above mentioned market conditions prices for the products jumped to RUR16,00-17,00 per kilo of Estonian and Latvian fish.

Finnish herring packed in pallets fetched from RUR16.00 per kilo in Saint Petersburg.

Similar product packed in boxes was offered from RUR19.00 per kilo.

Product appreciation could be explained by short supply on the market and poor catches.

Blue whiting

After the previous sharp rise blue whiting prices in Saint Petersburg settled at RUR24.00-25.00 per kilo as per mid-December 2006. Traders forecasted that the prices would most probably stay at that level.

No considerable changes were observed on the blue whiting market of Saint Petersburg. Weather forecasts did not promise any improvements.

Atlantic salmon and trout

In view of the coming turn-of-the-year holidays prices for Atlantic salmon and sea trout in Saint Petersburg have gone slightly up.

More specifically, in the middle of December 2006 trout was offered from RUR200.00 per kilo of the size 1.8-2.7 and from RUR215.00 for the size 2.7-3.6, while Atlantic salmon 5-6 was available from RUR210.00 per kilo.

Restrictions for import of Atlantic salmon and trout from Norway to Russia have remained valid with only nine Norwegian plants approved for export of their fresh/chilled salmon to Russia.

Wholesale prices ex-coldstore in Saint Petersburg, dateline 14 December 2006

Wholesale prices ex-coldstore in Vladivostok, dateline 14 December 2006