Export prices for Russian crabs almost doubled.

In October, there was a sharp jump in the cost of crabs, which Russia supplies abroad. The average export price rose to USD 58/kg, according to the Federal Customs Service. In autumn, the price of crabs traditionally rise compared to the summer, but over the past three years, prices have never reached such a high level. In October 2020, 1 kg of crab shipped abroad cost an average of USD 32, in October 2019 - USD 26. Back in September of this year, the average price was USD 31. Frozen crabs especially rose in price, according to customs statistics. In October, their average price was USD 67/kg, while in October 2020 it was only USD 36/kg, in September of this year - USD 30.

According to the results of ten months of 2021, the share of frozen seafood accounted for about 63% of all crab exports in monetary terms (about USD 1.2 billion), the rest of the crabs were delivered abroad mainly in live and chilled form.
In January-October 2021, customs recorded the supply of crabs mainly to three countries. First of all, frozen crab went to the Netherlands and South Korea (USD 677 million and USD 498 million, respectively), while live and chilled crab (USD 430 million) went to China. At the same time, the Netherlands and South Korea act primarily as logistics hubs: crabs caught in the Northern Basin and the Far East are reloaded into containers there and sent to other countries without customs clearance, explains Alexei Buglak, President of the Pollack Catchers Association.

For Russian fishermen, crabs are the most marginal in comparison with other types of aquatic resources, recalls Alexander Fomin, vice president of the Association of Trade and Industrial Enterprises of the Fish Market. The share of crabs now accounts for about 42% of all export earnings of the domestic fishing industry, and it is growing. Back in 2018, this share was only 25%, estimates German Zverev, president of the All-Russian Association of Fisheries.

Fishermen sell the main part of the caught crab to other countries. In the first half of 2021, 70% of the total production was exported: the catch amounted to 46.7K/mt, export - 32.1K/mt. On average, the annual catch of crab is about 90k/mt. Far East, fishing is also carried out in the Northern Basin.