It’s pollock and politics as importers and exporters of the whitefish try to figure out just what impact there could be on the market based on sanctions related to the tension between the United States and Russia over activities in Ukraine.
On the Russian side, President Vladimir Putin has issued an import ban that would keep American pollock out of Russia in response to ongoing U.S. sanctions. In the United States, Rep. George Hochbrueckner (D-NY) has started the “Just Say Nyet” campaign, in which he urges Americans not to buy Russian pollock.
Companies are still sorting out what the import ban means. A marketing official with a large pollock processing company said details of the ban are still coming out, but there is minimal concern at this point.
“For the B season [of Bering Sea pollock] we’re fully committed. If there is an impact, it won’t be until the beginning of next year” and the start of the next pollock season.
Sanctions against Russia have resulted in talks that the nation may internalize the use of pollock it previously exported, according to a buyer at an importing and distributing firm whose company sources twice-frozen Russian pollock processed in China.
While China has a good supply waiting to be processed, prices are likely to strengthen as demand picks up, he said. “If Russia domesticates [its pollock] then that would shift things,” he said.
Pollock prices are usually quite stable, he noted, with increases of 3, 5 or even 10 cents about as volatile as it gets. “It just moves in a smaller way,” he said. Current twice-frozen pollock prices are around USD 1.30 (EUR 0.978). In contrast, skinless/boneless shatterpacks of Alaska pollock are selling for USD 2.25 to 2.45 (EUR 1.69 to 1.84), depending on size.
Because of the price differential, he said it’s unlikely a shortage of imported pollock would be substituted with product from Alaska.
As a result of what could happen with the Russian market, he was urging his customers to make commitments soon for 2015’s Lent-related inventories. There is a buffer now, he said, with inventory in China, so the full effect wouldn’t come, if at all, until next year.
While the Bering Sea B season is set to wrap up in October, the spokesman for the processing company said this year’s catch is filled with good-size fish that are being taken quickly, so the season could end by mid-September.
That’s a trend that has been repeated over the past few years, he said, “which adds up to healthy resources.”
The Bering Sea total allowable catch was increased for 2014 to 1.267 million metric tons (MT) from 1.247 million MT the previous year. Of the nearly 745,000 MT available in the B season, about 67 percent of that was landed by 0 August.
In the Gulf of Alaska, the C season is slated to begin on 25 August and run through 1 October. The cumulative total of pollock taken in the A and B seasons for Areas 610, 620 and 630 was around 77,000 MT, with some 80,000 MT remaining for the C and D seasons.
