Vladivostok, Russia-based Russian Fishery Company has signed an agreement with COFCO Imported Foods to push sales of its pollock fillet and surimi in China.
COFCO is a state-owned conglomerate and one of China’s leading agricultural food processors. COFCO Imported Foods, a subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerate, has a nationwide distribution footprint across China, and has previously entered into agreements with other seafood companies, including Lerøy Seafood Group, on exclusive distribution partnerships.
Over the past several years, RFC has committed to a strategic goal of increasing its output of high value-added products. It is in the process of building a new fleet of 11 supertrawlers, each designed to catch and process up to 60,000 metric tons (MT) of fish, with the first – the Vladimir Limanov – commissioned in December 2020, which will produce between 4,000 and 5,000 MT of surimi in 2021, according to RFC.
“The Chinese market has always been and remains one of the highest priorities for the RFC. Partnership with COFCO will make it possible to significantly advance in the development of sales of deep-processed pollock products in this market,” RFC First Deputy General Director Savely Karpukhin said. “Chinese consumers are paying more and more attention to issues of environmental friendliness, genuineness, and health benefits, and the RFC is pleased to offer them the products made of wild white fish caught in one of the cleanest waters in the world, with the highest consumer properties, and at an affordable price. We are sure that COFCO’s experience and reputation in the Chinese market will provide good prospects for our products in China, and together we can reach an ambitious level of annual sales of 50,000 tons of products by 2024.”
The agreement will “enable the RFC to ensure product quality control for the Chinese market at every stage, from catching to the final consumer,” Karpukhin said.
The official signing ceremony for the deal was attended by representatives of Karpukhin and COFCO Far East General Manager Tianxu Bai.
“COFCO Far East is one of the business development directions of COFCO Far East Co., Ltd., to assist specialized companies to import Russian high-quality food (including seafood). Russian Fishing is a leader in this field. We are willing to provide follow-up services and support in business cooperation and promote more high-quality products to enter the Chinese market,” Bai said.
Tensions between Russia and China increased over the past year after China blocked some imports of Russian seafood, but Evgeny Markin, the executive director of the Russian-Chinese Business Council, who also attended the ceremony, said the deal between RFC and COFCO represented a turning point.
“Signing the agreement between COFCO Food Import and the Russian Fishery Company is one more important step in the development of the Russian-Chinese business cooperation. With each passing year, the partnership between our countries grows stronger and develops. More and more projects of various levels are successfully implemented by joint efforts of the Russian and Chinese parties,” Markin said.
In a separate press release, RFC said its production of deep-processed pollock products frozen at sea increased 17 percent in the third quarter of 2021. It has also ramped up its sales of those products to the United States, Japan, Europe, and to Russia’s domestic market, it said.
“The modernization of the existing fleet, and, most importantly, the commissioning of the first super-trawler of the new fleet, allows the company to fulfill the strategic task of increasing the production of deep processing products at sea,” RFC General Director Viktor Litvinenko said. "It is this method of production that allows you to get the maximum economic return from the resource and provides consumers with the highest quality products from wild white fish."
RFC recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, and Litvinenko said the company’s management was proud to have grown it into one of the largest seafood companies globally. He said the company had overcome challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, including a pollock glut created by the closure of the Chinese market and lower-than-expected demand from the domestic market, which RFC had targeted through a production agreement with Fish Processing Plant No. 1 (ROK-1) for sales of at least 10,000 MT of pollock fillet sales beginning in 2023.
“The RFC team can rightfully be proud of the achievements with which the company approached the first anniversary,” Litvinenko said. “Despite the difficulties that absolutely everyone faced during the pandemic, the company does not slow down its growth rates. We are building a new fleet, are following the planned path of development of deep processing of fish in the country, and are successfully coping with all the challenges. "
Photo courtesy of Russian Fishery Company
