Photo: Union Forsea Corp.

South Korea’s Seafood Market: Pollock Imports Fall While Sardine and Overall Values Rise

South Korea’s Seafood Market Sees Mixed Trends in 2025

South Korea’s seafood import market showed a mix of trends in the first eight months of 2025, with a significant decrease in frozen pollock volume but an increase in import value, while frozen sardine imports saw a dramatic surge.

Frozen Pollock: Decreasing Volume, Increasing Price

Between January and August 2025, South Korea imported 77,997 tons of frozen pollock, an 11% decrease from the 88,010 tons imported during the same period in 2024. Despite this decline, pollock remains a crucial seafood, accounting for 13% of the nation’s total seafood imports of 620,000 tons.

The country’s reliance on Russian suppliers remains exceptionally high, with 97% of all frozen pollock imports coming from Russia. The average import price from Russia was $1.04/kg, significantly lower than prices from the United States ($1.63/kg) and China ($1.73/kg). The overall average unit price for pollock stood at $1.06/kg, marking a 9% increase from $0.97/kg a year earlier. This price effect helped to offset some of the volume shortfall, as the total import value for frozen pollock only fell by 3% to $82.37 million compared to the same period in 2024.

Russian Seafood Imports: A Mixed Bag

Overall seafood imports from Russia in August 2025 saw a 2% increase, totaling 19,684 tons. However, the cumulative imports for the January-August period decreased by 1% to 165,361 tons. Russian seafood accounted for 27% of South Korea’s total seafood imports.

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While frozen pollock imports from Russia specifically fell by 13% to 75,540 tons, other Russian seafood products saw different trends:

• Frozen Sardine imports soared by 1.5% to 15,781 tons, a stark contrast to just 237 tons a year earlier.

• Frozen Alaska Pollock Roe fell by 2% to 12,539 tons.

• Frozen Yellowfin Sole declined by 8% to 8,350 tons.

• Frozen Pacific Herring dropped by 28% to 8,177 tons.

In terms of value, total seafood imports from Russia in August decreased by 5% to $59.15 million. However, the cumulative import value for the year remained stable at $523.83 million, a slight increase from the previous year. The average unit price for Russian seafood increased by 2% to $3.17/kg. South Korea's heavy dependence on Russian seafood makes future supply and price stability contingent on international developments and fluctuations in Russia's catch levels.

Source: Union Forsea Corp.

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