Russia's pollock industry made a sharp shift from fillet production to surimi production this year through May as the country faced ongoing challenges with selling frozen-at-sea (FAS) fillets in the European market.
Pollock fillet output fell 31 percent year-on-year to 48,000 metric tons through May, while the volume of onboard surimi production more than quadrupled to reach 22,000 metric tons, according to Russian statistic service Rosstat. In addition, around 6,000 metric tons of surimi was produced in onshore plants.
"The shift from pollock fillet to surimi production was related with certain difficulties that Russian companies faced when selling frozen-at-sea fillets on the European market," German Zverev, president of the All-Russian Fisheries Association (VARPE), said at a recent briefing in Moscow.
