The head of Inarktika named the advantages of Russian salmon over Chilean salmon

After salmon suppliers from the Faroe Islands left the Russian market in 2022, only Chile among the major importers supplies it to RUSSIA. But there is more competition for domestic salmon - restaurants pay a “premium” for it Ilya Sosnov

Russian restaurateurs have increased demand for domestic salmon - public catering is willing to pay a premium for it compared to Chilean salmon, Ilya Sosnov, general DIRECTOR of the Inarctic group (formerly Russian Aquaculture), said in an interview with RBC.

In recent years, since Russia introduced a food embargo in 2014, which cut off fish supplies from EU countries , Norway and Iceland, the most expensive salmon on the Russian market was supplied by the Faroe Islands. Gray imports from neighboring European countries were also present, but they were becoming less and less: “As far as we hear from the market, Norwegian, Finnish, Estonian and Belarusian salmon are coming in in some insignificant volumes. But this is a gray area. These are products that are sold at night markets, but without the romanticism a la Tsukiji in Tokyo,” says the general director of Inarktika.

After the start of a special military operation in Ukraine , Faroese companies “largely left voluntarily and did not want to supply to the Russian market,” Sosnov recalls. Atlantic salmon and trout were the main item of Russian fish imports in physical terms, the Association of Pollock Harvesters estimated last April: they accounted for about 17% of supplies (100 thousand tons in 2021). The supply of Atlantic salmon will be difficult to replace, the Pollock Harvesters Association warned.

Chile remains one of the major import suppliers on the Russian market: in 2022, there were interruptions in supplies due to logistics and payment problems, but now the situation has stabilized. “Now Chile supplies approximately the same volumes [as before] - about 40-50 thousand tons. But Chilean fish arrives frozen - from the point of view of consumer properties, ours is better, because it arrives chilled and is not defrosted. Therefore, the market pays a premium for our fish relative to Chilean fish,” explains Sosnov.

The HoReCa segment ( hotel food , restaurants, catering) is the most important and most premium channel for the sale of salmon. In most cases, the decision about which red fish to order is made not by buyers, but by chefs. “The bias and choice of chefs is a very important thing that affects the company’s strategy. The Russian market is premium, it is important for us to be in it, and we will fight for it,” emphasizes the general director of Inarctika.

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Inarktika is the largest producer of aquaculture salmon on the Russian market. The company is engaged in commercial farming of Atlantic salmon and sea trout in the Barents Sea in the Murmansk region, and trout is grown in the lakes of Karelia. In 2022, the company’s share, according to its own estimates, accounted for 25 thousand tons, or 21% of the Russian salmon market (excluding lake trout and wild salmon), which was generally estimated at 118 thousand tons.

Sooner or later, “with or without the Faroe Islands,” the company would occupy the salmon sales channel in Russian HoReCa, Sosnov is sure: “We have a unique selling proposition - fresh, delicious salmon, which is already available on the second or third day in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and on the fourth - fifth - in all cities with a population of over a million. This is good for HoReCa, because it’s tasty, it’s good for retail, because you have a long shelf life - useful life, and you don’t take risks if you have three or four days to sell red fish.”

Russian aquaculture salmon does not compete with domestic wild salmon, which is massively fished in the Far East, Sosnov assures. “I’ve been working for the company for eight years and I don’t see a correlation between our pricing and dominant or non-dominant years in the Far East, when more or less red fish are caught. We see that there are campaigns to promote this fish - I think this is right. But I would not say that we feel any significant competition from Far Eastern fish. In principle, it is good for the market to have a large shelf where each consumer can choose fish - pink salmon, chum salmon, trout, salmon - in their price segment. This is very good for fish consumption to develop in the country. Especially given the fact that other proteins - MEAT , chicken  - are rising in price.”

Prices for wild salmon caught in the Far East are falling this year. Against the backdrop of early approaches of pink salmon to the shores of Kamchatka, prices at miners and at the wholesale level began to decline back in August. The 2023 salmon run is the second largest catch in the history of observations: according to Rosrybolovstvo, by November 23, the production volume amounted to 609 thousand tons - 2.2 times higher than last year’s figure and approximately 13% more than in 2021. A good salmon catch also provoked a decrease in wholesale prices for red caviar: in November, the cost of pink salmon caviar in the Far East decreased by 25% compared to the same month in 2022 - to an average of 3.5 thousand rubles. for 1 kg wholesale.