Fish exports from Russia down 10.5% in H1, 2016 to 838,000 tonnes
Fish product exports from the Russian Federation between January and June 2016 decreased by 10.5% from the same period a year before to 838,000 tonnes, Rosstat's provisional data showed. The Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo) reports that fish production in Russia in the first half of the year increased by 1.4% to 1.952 million tonnes.
Fish exports included largely frozen pollock and herring. As the Federal Customs Service of Russia reports the half-year volume of pollock declined 17.1% y-o-y to 344,600 tonnes, of herring – by 17.7%, to 62,300 tonnes. In general, frozen fish exports decreased by 12.7%, to 728,000 tonnes.
In the reporting period, export of finished and canned fish products from Russia increased by 14.5% to 7,100 tonnes, of fish fillet and other fish products - by 14.3%, to 63,200 tonnes, of shellfish, molluscs and other invertebrates - by 1.1%, to 36,400 tonnes.
During the same period imports of fish products to the Russian Federation dropped by 9.3% to 237,700 tonnes. Frozen capelin imports plummeted by 67.1% to 8,600 tonnes, of frozen herring - by 50.5%, to 10,600 tonnes, of frozen salmon – by 3.1% to 21,900 tonnes.
At the same time the volume of frozen mackerel imported to the country soared by 46.5% to 29,300 tonnes and frozen trout import doubled to 5,600 tonnes. There was also a 18.9-percent increase in shellfish, molluscs and other invertebrates imports to 25,800 tonnes.