At the Qingdao Fish Fair, Saveily Karpukhin, CEO of the Russian Fisheries Company (RFC), told UCN that in the coming quarter 2025A, the price of Russian cod surimi will increase further. The price of Grade A surimi CFR with gel 700 and above will increase from $2.50-$2.60/kg to $3.00/kg.

"We have signed a contract with the Chinese buyer and the CFR price is $3.00/kg, which marks a significant increase in the market." "The price will be lower for large customers, around $2.90/kg, and higher than $3.00/kg for small customers," Karpukhin said.

Karpukhin said the increase was due to a sharp decline in the production of tropical surimi over the past two years and the fact that market stocks have been largely depleted. "We have noticed that demand in China is not being met."

In 2024, Russia produced about 70,000 tons of surimi, an increase of more than 40%. In the next few years, Russia will increase its surimi production capacity year by year, reaching 160,000 tons by 2028.

"If you look at the historical price trend, $3.00/kg is below the long-term average, so the surimi price has not been fully released, and we hope that whether the logistics goes up or down, it will not have a significant impact on the market." Karpukhin said that Russian surimi is mainly sold in China, Japan and Russia, each market share is roughly equal.

In the first eight months of this year, China imported 20,126 tons of Russian surimi, up from 16,752 tons last year.

In 2025, RFC plans to produce 50,000-60,000 tons of surimi, which is higher than PBO's once-frozen fillets (30,000-35,000 tons). Karpukhin said the price of Russian PBO will depend on the market of Alaska fish fillets in the United States, and if the United States increases prices, Russia will follow suit.

In addition, RFC will produce 35,000 tons of caviar products per year, 5,000 tons of which will be sold to China.

"We are in discussions with several Chinese processors to explore product innovations, such as using caviar as a hot pot ingredient. I am optimistic that we can make caviar products gain traction in China, surpassing Japan and Korea, and once the Chinese love a product, it can quickly become popular and become a stable and growing market." "Karpukhin said.