Russian fishing company sold part of herring quotas

Wanting to focus on pollock fishing, the Russian Fishery Company (RRPC) is optimizing its portfolio of quotas for other types of fish. The group sold two companies with fishing rights for about 15 thousand tons of herring to Valery Ponomarev, who is considered a co-owner of the Okeanrybflot holding. Pollock is a more profitable and in-demand resource on the world market, but new difficulties may arise with the export of this fish, experts warn.

Senator Valery Ponomarev became the owner of the fishing structures Seld-D LLC and Seld-V LLC, which previously belonged to the RRPK. The corresponding changes to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities were made at the end of December 2023. The RRPK confirmed to Kommersant the sale of the companies, clarifying that the structures have the rights to catch about 15 thousand tons of Pacific herring per year. The deal was concluded on mutually beneficial terms, the RRPK added, without disclosing details.

RRPK, according to its own data, has quotas for catching 376 thousand tons of fish, including 330 thousand tons of pollock. Until March 2022, RRPK was owned by Gleb Frank. After the businessman was included in the SDN list of the US Treasury, RRPK reported that Mr. Frank sold 70.09% of the company to top managers.

Valery Ponomarev is considered a co-owner of the Okeanrybflot holding, which produces pollock, squid and herring. In 2022, the company caught more than 277 thousand tons of fish and produced almost 180 thousand tons of products at its own factories, Okeanrybflot reported. The holding did not promptly respond to Kommersant.

The RRPK explained to Kommersant that they are focusing on catching pollock, and catching herring is carried out in a short period of time, during the least active period of pollock fishing, from November to mid-January. The group added that they plan to “return the sold rights in full” in the next two years through participation in the investment quota program. At the second stage of the program, quotas are allocated for catching pollock and herring in exchange for the construction of ships, refrigerators and factories.

By December 2023, Pacific herring in the Far East had risen in price by 2.1 times year-on-year, to 110 rubles. for 1 kg, the Fishing Union reported. Based on these figures, the proceeds from the sale of 15 thousand tons of the resource can be estimated at 1.65 billion rubles. in year. As noted in the Fishing Union, the import of herring due to changes in logistics and a jump in exchange rates in 2023 did not recover to the level of 2021, and the catch in the Far East decreased, which caused an increase in wholesale prices. According to Rosrybolovstvo, from January 1 to December 27, 2023, herring production in the Far East decreased by 67.4 thousand tons year-on-year, to 386.2 thousand tons.

Executive Director of the Association of Production and Trade Enterprises of the Fish Market Alexander Fomin says that herring is a mass-segment fish that is in demand primarily on the domestic market, which may be a less profitable resource than the actively exported pollock. Due to the short fishing period, part of the fleet must be diverted to catch herring, the expert adds. According to estimates by the Association of Pollock Harvesters (ADM), the volume of exports of this fish from the Russian Federation in 2023 will increase by 13%, to 880 thousand tons, and the cost of supplies will decrease by 5% year-on-year, to $1.2 billion. The dynamics are affected by the decrease demand and prices for pollock fillets in Europe, noted in ADM.

But as Mr. Fomin points out, the recent US decision to ban the import of fish and seafood processed in other countries from the Russian Federation may negatively affect the cost of Russian pollock in the world. In the EU, starting from 2024, there will be a duty of 13.7% on the import of Russian pollock fillets, including those released by third countries, which will put pressure on the competitiveness of the product, ADM noted.

The head of the Fisheries Information Agency, Alexander Savelyev, believes that optimization of the quota portfolio could be required due to the growing debt burden of the RRPK in connection with participation in the investment quota program, the construction of the majority of vessels under which continues, and the cost of contracts is growing. He does not rule out the conclusion of deals to sell part of the quotas by other large holdings. RRPK, they say in the group, does not plan to sell other quotas in the near future.

Anatoly Kostyrev