Crab supplies to the domestic market to grow by 20% by the end of 2024

Supplies of Russian crab to the domestic market by the end of 2024 increased by almost 20%, approximately up to 8 thousand tons, the All-Russian Association of Fishery Enterprises (VARPE) told Izvestia on January 3.

Partial reorientation of Russian crab supplies to the domestic market is due to the growing demand of mass consumers. Crab is no longer an unknown and outlandish product for the audience with a high level of income. According to NTech's calculations, already in the first nine months of 2024, sales of frozen and chilled crab increased by 52% in physical terms and 112% in monetary terms, canned and preserves from this species - by 73 and 100%, respectively.

According to WARPE President German Zverev, a crab consumption culture is forming in Russia, although at a small pace. This is a consequence of joint efforts of fishermen, retail and restaurant sector to popularize crab and expand the range of crab products.

"Just five to ten years ago, claws, crab meat could be purchased in premium retail stores or in expensive restaurants, usually located in the central part of the country or extraction regions. It was not available to the mass consumer. Today, the situation is changing: restaurateurs, in order to replace imported sea delicacies, began to expand the menu of crab dishes, expand purchases, focusing their attention not only on the most expensive and rare Kamchatka crab, but also on more affordable species. Fishermen also expanded the product line for the consumer: now, in addition to the usual canned products, crab claws in different variations, semi-finished products, ready fillets blast-frozen appeared in mass-market and chain retailers. Fishermen together with retailers hold tastings and invest in advertising, restaurateurs popularize the culture of crab claws consumption, and retailers invest in advertising. Bottom line: Russians have sold out," Zverev explained.

"Demand for interesting products is growing in Russia along with the population's income. But crab remains a narrow-niche product. Despite the fact that it shows a two-fold increase in sales, the share of frozen crab does not exceed 0.01% of the entire category of fish products in natural terms, and canned and preserved and even 0.003%, so it is still too early to talk about the formed domestic market of crab in retail. But the fact that the product is becoming clear and known is obvious", - said "Izvestia" NTech analytics director Leonid Ardalionov.

It is noted that the share of crabs is also insignificant in fishing: they account for only 1.7% of the total volume of aquatic bioresources harvested in the country. But they provided up to 50% of all Russian exports in monetary terms, primarily at the expense of Southeast Asian countries.

Russia remains the world leader in the production of premium crab species. In the first nine months of 2024, fish producers increased live crab supplies to Asian markets by 5.1%, to 32.1 thousand tons. Frozen and canned crab decreased by 7.7%, to 24.9 thousand tons.

"Russia has not developed a culture of live and chilled crab consumption, but Russians are used to frozen seafood. Hence the reorientation of product exports," Zverev explained.

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"Frozen crab is more popular at retail than processed crab. These products are already in the high price segment, but frozen costs an average of 1.6 thousand rubles per 1 kg, while 1 kg of preserves will cost buyers already 6.7 thousand rubles. Despite the narrow niche and interest in new products, such a price tag scares away a significant part of buyers from cooked products," says Ardalionov.

The tendency to increase crab supplies to the domestic market will continue next year, predicts German Zverev. Crab stocks are now at a high level. For example, for 2025 the allowable catch of opilio striped crab has been increased by 2.4 thousand tons.