Russian Crab Company Group reports annual operational results for 2020
The largest crab harvesting company in the Far East and one of the leading in Russia, Russian Crab Company Group reports on annual operational results 2020.
From January to December 20020, Company’s vessels extracted Red King Crab, Blue King Crab, Brown King Crab, Opilio Snow Crab and Horsehair Crab in Okhotsk Sea, Bering Sea and the Sea of Japan. According to annual results, the company’s catch amounted 13,020 tons of crab, which is 19% of the total regional crab catch. The company has utilized the volume of quotas by 99.1%, while the average utilization of quotas in the Far Eastern basin is 95%.
«Last year, the Russian Crab company started quotas utilization acquired at the 2019 auction. Volumes of extraction increased 5 times — from 2.5 thousand tons to 13.0 thousand tons. As a result, Russian Crab Company successfully mastered the largest package of crab quotas in the Far Eastern basin», — said Alexander Sapozhnikov, General Director Russian Crab Company Group.
Russian Crab Company has significantly expanded its presence in international markets. Compared to 2019, the Company increased its export volume 3.5 times. The share in the total Russian export of crab to China increased to 22.7% (+ 10.5 percentage points by 2019), to South Korea to 15.5% (+ 10.6 percentage points by 2019). The participation of Russian Crab in total supplies of crab to China and South Korea for 11 months of the year reached 10 and 11%, respectively. The Company entered the USA market in the second half of the year, and its share in the total supplies of crab to USA reached 4.2%, and in supplies from Russia — 10.8%.
Volume of sales to Japan also showed significant growth, despite the fact that quarantine restrictions seriously reduced the activity of importers.
Russian Crab plans to further expand the geography of sales. By the end of the year, agreements were reached on trial deliveries to the countries of the European Union.
Increased focus on the quality of products, to which consumers now have special requirements related to the prevention of COVID-19, contributed to the establishment and strengthening of cooperation with Asian and American buyers. Throughout the entire period of quarantine measures, the company operates in compliance with enhanced sanitary security measures. At the end of the year, the cost of quarantine preventing measures exceeded 40 million rubles. The production process in terms of ensuring the safety of exported products is organized in accordance with the official recommendations of Russian and foreign authorities.
In 2020, Russian Crab launched the Investment program for construction of 10 newbuilt modern crab catching vessels. Seven vessels will be constructed by the Onega Shipbuilding and Ship repair yard. Keel laying of the first two vessels took place in June and December. At the moment, hull work is underway.
Initiation of the MSC certification process, digitalization of operational processes, and creation of 113 new vacancies — are among important annual projects that characterize Company’s growth and development.
