Alaska salmon faces stiff competition from Russia, farmed fish
(UNITED STATES, 7/14/2021)
Alaska wild salmon accounts for only about 13 percent of the global supply and competition will ramp up this year from other producers, notably Russia.
Alaska is expected to produce a total catch this year topping 190 million salmon for world markets adding up to 880 million pounds (400,000MT).
Alaska’s increase is due to an expected increase of pink salmon, which run in two year cycles with odd years usually seeing the biggest boost.
<-- Photo: courtesy Trident
But Alaska’s catch could get swamped by the wild salmon projected to come out of Russia. Tradex, a global seafood supplier based in British Columbia, reports that a harvest of 300 million salmon is expected from Russia, topping one billion pounds (450,000MT).
Much of that Russian salmon will compete with U.S. caught fish in supermarkets across America.
Last year the U.S. imported nearly 38 million pounds of Russian-caught salmon valued at over $14 million. Of that, 2.3 million pounds was sockeye salmon, valued at nearly $9 million. Yet Russia has not purchased one pound of any U.S. seafood since 2014.
Meanwhile, Tradex Foods CEO and president, Rob Reierson says even more wild salmon will be added to the pack from other nations.
“Globally, a veteran Wild Pacific Salmon expert we spoke to projected an estimated 930,000 metric tons of Pacific Salmon to be harvested from all countries including Canada, Japan, and Korea in 2021.”
That adds up to more than two billion pounds (900,000MT) of wild salmon on world markets.
Chilean farming salmon for Russia
But the numbers for wild caught salmon pale in comparison to farmed fish which now captures nearly 74% of the world’s overall salmon production. Salmon farmers, led by Norway and Chile, are expected to produce nearly 6 billion pounds this year (2.7M Tons).
And global reports say farmed and wild-caught combined are not expected to come near to satisfying the world’s demand for salmon.
Author: Laine Welch | Fish Radio Programs
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