Russian imports of salmon and trout rising in defiance of vet restrictions

In the first three quarters of the current year 2006 Russia's total imports of salmons, chilled and frozen (HSC 030211+030212+03031+03032) from all destinations has increased by 25.24% in value terms, though decreasing by 2.06% by volume from 52,835.855 tonnes in January-September 2005 to 51,745.637 tonnes. The unit value has also jumped by 27.88%, according to FISHNET analysts who have scrutinized provisional data of Russia's Federal Custom Service.

The value of supplies of Norwegian salmon and trout in fresh (chilled) and frozen form to Russia has also slightly risen in spite of the recent restrictions introduced by the Russian veterinary authorities for chilled salmon imports from Norway which have now been lifted for nine major salmon plants. In the situation of the restrictions large increases were recorded for Chile, Estonia, Faroese Islands, Spain, UK and the sources listed as other category.

Total - salmons, chilled and frozen 030211+030212+03031+03032

Norway has remained Russia's leading supplier of chilled and frozen salmon and trout both in terms of volume and value leaving the second top supplier well behind. More specifically, through the first three quarters of the current year 2006 Norway has supplied 34,372.667 metric tons worth nearly 134 million USD while the second largest supplier Chile has exported only 5417.941 tonnes of salmons worth ca.20 million USD as can be viewed from the below graphs.

Atlantic salmon and trout CHILLED

The restrictions for import of Atlantic salmon and trout from Norway, which permit importation only from approved salmon and trout processors, have affected the overall picture of Norwegian fresh salmon supplies with both volumes and value of imports falling as it can be viewed in the table below.

Russian imports of chilled Atlantic salmon and trout from Norway

France, Estonia, UK, Faroese Islands and other countries have taken the opportunity to strengthen their positions on the Russian market by means of compensating the lack of chilled salmon and trout caused by falling supplies from Norway.

More specifically, Russia's imports of chilled salmon from Estonia (which obviously reexports salmon) through the first three quarters 2006 have grown by as much as 79,330.96% by value and 31,899.00% by volume. The second largest rise of supplies has been recorded for the UK - 3087.70% by value and 5200.98% by volume.

030212 - salmon fresh or chilled

As for chilled trout, the Faroese Islands have emerged as Russia's top supplier of the product, while Norway has decreased its exports to the country. In absolute figures, in January-September 2006 the Faroese Islands exported to Russia 1396 metric tons of chilled trout worth ca.5.8 million USD followed by Norway supplying 776 tonnes worth 3.2 million USD (91,03% by volume and 87,38% by value down from the corresponding figures of 2005).

Atlantic salmon and trout FROZEN

The situation with Russian imports of frozen Atlantic salmon and trout from Norway has been quite the opposite with both volume and value rising by 62% and 108% correspondingly. In absolute figures, the country's supplies of frozen salmon to Russia have grown from 18,235.282 metric tons worth 54.6 million USD in January-September 2005 to 29,541.412 metric tons worth nearly 114 million USD this year.

The rise has helped Norway compensate the above mentioned drop of fresh/chilled salmon supplies to Russia. As a result, Norway has managed to slightly increase the overall value of its salmon exports to Russia (chilled and frozen) by 0.09%, while the volume has still showed a decrease of 24.27%.

0303 2 - Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), including trout (Salmo trutta, Oncorhynchus mykiss, Oncorhynchus clarki, Oncorhynchus aguabonita, Oncorhynchus gilae, Oncorhynchus aрache and Oncorhynchus chrysogaster), frozen