The Russian Far East’s largest crab company finished 2020 with 99% of its quotas caught, and having more than tripled its exports.
The Russian Crab Company Group reports that alongside a year’s successful fishing, it launched a programme of construction for ten new crabbing vessels, seven of which are to be built at the Onega Shipbuilding and Shiprepair Yard. During 202 the company also initiated an MSC certification process and more than a hundred new jobs were created.
‘Last year, the Russian Crab Company fished quotas acquired at the 2019 auction,’ said the group’s general director Alexander Sapozhnikov.
‘Catch volumes increased five-fold, from 2500 tonnes to 13,000 tonnes, the largest package of crab quotas in the Far East,’
Between January and December 20020, the company’s vessels caught red, blue and brown king crab, opilio snow crab and horsehair crab in the Sea of Okhotsk Sea, the Bering Sea and the Sea of Japan. The 13,020 tonne landing total is 19% of the region’s overall crab catch. The company caught 99.1% of its quotas, while the average quota utilisation rate in the Far Eastern basin is 95%.
Alexander Sapozhnikov reports that the Russian Crab Company increased its exports to China and South Korea, and also made an entrance to the US crab market.
‘Volumes of sales to Japan also showed significant growth, despite the fact that quarantine restrictions seriously reduced the activity of importers,’ he said, adding that the company does not plan to expand its export to other parts of the world, although agreements were reached on trial deliveries to the countries within the European Union.
‘An increased focus on the quality of products, including special requirements related to preventing the spread of Covid-19, contributed to the establishment and strengthening of co-operation with Asian and American buyers,’ he said.
‘Throughout the entire period of quarantine measures, the company has operated in compliance with enhanced hygiene security measures. At the end of the year, the cost of these quarantine measures exceeded 40 million rubles.’
