The largest crab producer in the Russian Far East, Russian Crab Group, reports that during 2022 its vessels caught 99% of their allowed quotas and the catch came to over 11,600 tonnes.
At the same time, Russian Crab increased its share of overall Russian crab exports from 13% to 16%, with China and Korea the main export destination for live crab, with 5% and 6% increases respectively across these markets.
During last year, Russian Crab extended its range of fully-processed products, including raw-frozen opilio legs, as well as launching a number of cooked and frozen products.
‘Last year, despite the conditions, the Russian Crab Group made significant progress in its production development and expansion of the brand positioning,’ said Russian Crab Group’s general director Alexander Sapozhnikov.
‘The company’s fleet has been increased to 32 vessels. Work was carried out which allowed us to start developing new segments of the Chinese market and present our finished products in Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia, Singapore, Mexico, and the countries of the Middle East. Consumers in these countries showed a strong interest in these Russian delicacies.’
He commented that during 2022, as part of its obligations under the state investment quota programme, the company continued construction of its new fleet, launching two live crab vessels and one catcher-processor.
According to Alexander Sapozhnikov, a further achievement last year was obtaining a certificate confirming the compliance of the Russian Crab fishery with MSC standards, in addition to which the company was named Exporter of the Year, expanded its workforce to 1500 staff and initiated a number of environmental and educational projects within the Primorsky Territory.
