Russian Crab Fishing Group (RCC) Further Increases King Crab Quota, Total Quota Reaches 26,900 Tons

During the Shenzhen Fisheries Expo, the RCC Shanghai representative office director introduced that the company recently obtained a quota of 5,000 tons of red king crab in the Barents Sea region and will launch sales to the Chinese market after the red crab season begins.

As of now, RCC has accumulated quotas of 9,800 tons of opilio snow crab, 600 tons of bairdi snow crab, 10,300 tons of red king crab, 2,700 tons of blue king crab, and 600 tons of golden king crab.

Russian Federal Fishery Agency (Rosrybolovstvo) public data from May 23 shows that recent crab quota auctions attracted investors, with 6 companies participating in crab quota bidding. They collectively acquired 12.2% of snow crab quotas in the Primorie region (3,055 tons), 18.5% of Tanner crab quotas in the Petropavlosk-Komandor region (1,829 tons), and 100% of horsehair crab quotas in the West Sakhalin region (49.5 tons), with RCC subsidiary Far Eastern Crab becoming the largest bidder in the Far East region.

Data shows that China and South Korea are Russia's largest live crab export markets. In 2024, China imported 35,120 tons of live crabs from Russia (HS 030633), a 16.6% increase from the previous year. The average import price in 2024 was $32.52/kg, with no significant difference from 2023's $32.50/kg.

The RCC director stated that the company's live crab sales to the Chinese market increased by 53% year-on-year last year.

On the other hand, Russia's frozen crab exports to China declined, with sales decreasing by 40.4% year-on-year to 6,417 tons, while the average price rose from $11.09/kg to $14.20/kg.

Currently, the live crab products exported from Russia to China are mainly blue king crab and snow crab, with export prices of $45/kg an