Despite challenges with replacing key crab markets in the United States and Europe lost after its invasion of Ukraine, Russia expects this year to more than double the revenue it derives from auctioning off access to crab quota to the country's fishermen.
The expected total value of this year's auction of quota shares, or so-called crab lots, is estimated to reach around RUB 338.8 billion (€3.3 billion/$3.7 billion), according to the All-Russian Fisheries Association (VARPE).
In 2019, Russia’s federal fisheries agency Rosrybolovstvo auctioned 50 percent of the country’s total crab quota, divided into 41 lots, which brought in RUB 142.3
