'They are adjusting supply chains towards Asian markets': Russia finding new buyers willing to purchase its crab

"The use of the allocated crab quotas is going on as usual," confirmed Rosrybolovstvo, Russia’s federal fishery agency.

According to the fishery regulator, as of the end of May, Russia’s total crab catch in the Far Eastern and Northern fishery basins was nearly 35,000 tons, down just 2,000 metric tons from this time last year.

Rosrybolovstvo, however, confirmed that wide-scale sanctions imposed on the industry have forced crab harvesters operating in the Barents Sea to find alternative markets for the product.

“They are adjusting supply chains towards Asian markets," Rosrybolovstvo said, adding that it doesn’t see any big problems with the sale of king, snow and other crab species.

“Their resource is limited and Russia is the largest producer of these species,” said Rosrybolovstvo.

According to the agency, the largest fisheries for king and snow crab are located in Russia and Canada, with Russia’s shares in the global production of king crab and snow crab accounting for 70 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

In 2022, due to the ban on red king crab harvesting in Alaska, only Russia and Norway have quotas of 27,500 metric tons and 1,800 metric tons, respectively, for fishing king crab.

"Russia-origin crab importers, which were washed out by sanctions, will quickly be replaced with buyers from other countries,” Rosrybolovstvo said. “Markets of China, the UAE and some countries in the Asia-Pacific region are interested in crab supplies from Russia. We are also in search for new markets with high purchasing power and a tourist stream."

The US market dries up

Russian Crab Group, the largest crab harvesting company in the Far East and second-largest crab quota holder in the country, shares Rosrybolovstvo’s confidence in the crabbing sector overcoming sanction-related restrictions.

“It is seven percent ahead of this year’s target, and we are planning to use all allocated quota by the end of the year.”

According to Sapozhnikov, the US market has never been a single export market for the company.

"The volumes that were previously sent to the United States will be delivered to other markets. The company has contracts for the supply to the countries of Southeast Asia, and is planning to export to the Arab markets," said Sapozhnikov.

In 2021, the United States imported 31,895 metric tons of crab from Russia, mainly brine-frozen, worth $1.2 billion (€1 billion). Frozen snow crab and frozen red king crab accounted for over $900 million (€796 million) of that total.

Sapozhnikov noted that a ban on imports in one country will not change the overall picture of sales, given the limited volumes of valuable crab species in the global market.

"The niche of the Russian crab in the US market will be taken by the Canadian opilio, which means that Russian exporters will enter markets where Canadian supplies will decrease. Thus, the total crab sales will remain at the same level," Sapozhnikov said.

In 2021, the company’s crab harvest reached 12,533 metric tons, taking 99 percent of its allocated quotas of king, snow and other crab species.

Russian Crab’s share of the country’s overall crab exports is13 percent. The main export markets for frozen crab products were the United States and Japan, while live crab was shipped to China and South Korea.

Export-oriented business

Russia exports more than 90 percent of the crab it harvests.

According to Russia’s Federal Customs Service, in 2021 the country’s overall crab exports amounted to 75,300 metric tons, worth $2.6 billion (€2.4 billion).

Main importers of Russian crab were South Korea with a 40-percent-share in terms of value, the Netherlands with 36.2 percent and China - 21.3 percent.

Crab exports are one of the most profitable items in Russia’s fishery industry. Despite a small share in the export volume, which was less than five percent in 2021, it brought in more than 43 percent of the revenue from all Russian seafood exports.