SeaFood Business is the global trusted authority for seafood buyers and sellers. We are the seafood industry's leading trade magazine with more than 30 years of experience. Our coverage is based on the "business" of buying and selling seafood.
Issue link: https://seafoodbusiness.epubxp.com/i/79767
Top Story on frozen "green" roe, a prod- uct in which the eggs remain in their original form in the skein or sac. "So the demand for green roe is big," he says. U.S. seafood exports to Rus- sia surged 45 percent in value in 2011, to nearly $68 mil- lion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agriculture Service. For many Russian sup- pliers, the focus remains on exporting, as the bulk of processing and demand ex- ist elsewhere. Alexey Pche- lintsev, chief sales entire U.S. population. Tose people are buying seafood. "If [China's seafood sales] are going to continue to grow, where are they going to focus? Europe and the United States don't look that great," says Joe Jacobson, in- ternational program direc- tor for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). "Te greatest growth story is in their own backyard." Carnival for cod Last year, China surpassed specialist for Murmansk Trawl Fleet, is always looking for new markets for frozen, H&G; cod and haddock. With only 20 percent of the groundfish supplier's sales going to the domestic market, Pchelintsev says navigating import regu- lations is a challenging aspect of his job. "Tis is a long story if nothing is done at the government level," he says. Despite rich marine re- sources like whitefish, salm- on and crab, and a recent foray into aquaculture, Rus- sia uses imports to fill the low-end retail niche, par- ticularly items like pangasius from Vietnam. But it's also become an important mar- ket for farmed salmon from Norway. According to the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC), farmed salmon ex- ports to Russia increased 134 percent from 2007 to 2011, to more than $544 million. Russia's southern neigh- bor also boasts big seafood production capabilities, both wild and farmed. China is the global leader in aquacul- ture, seafood processing and re-exporting, and more and more of the seafood China produces is staying in the country. Te nation is going through a dynamic economic growth period that has seen its middle class grow to an estimated 300 million people — roughly the same as the Japan to become Alaska sea- food's top trading partner, as exports to the Far East giant exceeded $930 million, a 53 percent increase over 2010, according to ASMI. Te vast majority of Alaska seafood that China imports — the top products are groundfish and pink and chum salmon — is still processed and re- exported, says Jacobson, because of China's vast and affordable workforce. But he sees tremendous opportuni- ties in China for products like crab, black cod and flat- fish. "Tey're familiar to the Chinese consumer," he says. Familiarity is less of an issue in Brazil, where a sea- food renaissance of sorts is under way. Traditionally a beef-eating nation, seafood is catching on as its economy grows (it overtook the Unit- ed Kingdom as the world's seventh-largest economy in 2011, in terms of GDP). Bra- zil is a big importer of Alaska pollock via China and is now one of the United States' competitors for Chilean farmed salmon, says Jacob- son, who adds that Brazilian consumers have no distinct preference for wild or farmed fish. And since Chile is in close proximity, the focus for Alaska exporters targeting Brazil is not salmon, at least not yet. Right now, it's cod — and marketing. While a "tremendous Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com amount" of Alaska seafood has already penetrated the market, it is not labeled as Alaska seafood in the stores. "We've lost our brand," he says. "Our first task is to create a differentiation as to Building with BRICS A glance at emerging seafood markets BRAZIL GDP: $2.3 trillion; growth rate 2.7%; per capita $11,900 Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Real (BRL) Exchange rate to U.S. dollar. . . . . . . . . . . . . .2.04:1 Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205.7 million Population growth rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.102% Approximate per-capita seafood consumption . . .14.2 lbs. Fishery imports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$700 million Fishery exports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$300 million RUSSIA GDP: $2.4 trillion; growth rate 4.3%; per capita $17,000 Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ruble (RUB) Exchange rate to U.S. dollar. . . . . . . . . . . . . .32.9:1 Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138 million Population growth rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -0.48% Approximate per-capita seafood consumption . . .44 lbs. Fishery imports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2.3 billion Fishery exports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2.5 billion INDIA GDP: $4.5 trillion; growth rate 7.2%; per capita: $3,700 Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rupee (INR) Exchange rate to U.S. dollar. . . . . . . . . . . . . .56.1:1 Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.2 billion Population growth rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3% Approximate per-capita seafood consumption . . . 11.5 lbs. Fishery imports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$0 Fishery exports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1.7 billion CHINA GDP: $11.4 trillion; growth rate 9.2%; per capita: $8,500 Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Renminbi yuan (CNY) Exchange rate to U.S. dollar. . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.38:1 Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.3 billion Population growth rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.481% Approximate per-capita seafood consumption . . . 57.9 lbs. Fishery imports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$8.4 billion Fishery exports (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) $12.2 billion SOUTH AFRICA GDP: $562.2 billion; growth rate 3.1%; per capita: $11,100 Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rand (ZAR) Exchange rate to U.S. dollar. . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.5:1 Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48.8 million Population growth rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -0.41% Approximate per-capita seafood consumption . . .17.7 lbs. Fishery imports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$200 million Fishery exports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$500 million September 2012 SeaFood Business 23 Sources: CIA World Factbook, NOAA Fisheries, FAO (trade statistics from 2008)