Rosrybolovstvo’s total ‘crab quota’ sale price exceeded initial cost by almost RUB10 bn
23 out of 27 lots were allocated for commitments to invest in building medium-tonnage crab fishing vessels
The Russian Auction House (RAD) on its federal trading platform held several online auctions for the distribution of part of the crab fishing quotas under the ‘keel-per-quota’ scheme. The auctions were held on behalf of the Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo) October 16-18, 2023, RAD press office said.
A total of 27 lots were sold with the total sale price at 214.27 billion rubles. There were 160 auction participation applications submitted and 13 companies were announced winners.
The following fishing companies, Eurasian Fish Center (RUB7.98 billion), B-Crab (RUB7.6 billion), Tikhrybkom (RUB7.98 billion), AmurRybProm (RUB3.1 billion), and Kalan LLC (RUB5.6 billion) were awarded one lot each. Both Vostok and Fenix won two lots each for a total of RUB15.9 billion.
Three lots were sold to Antey Group (more than RUB26 billion). Three lots worth RUB25.5 billion each were purchased by Vladkrab and Sever. Far Eastern Crab won three lots for RUB23.9 billion. Ostrovnoy Crab Company purchased four lots for a total amount of RUB33.5 billion.
According to the terms of the agreement, the companies will begin fishing crab under the ‘keel-per-quota’ deal in 2024. The quota share is assigned to them for 15 years.
PortNews has previously reported that the total initial cost of the lots was about RUB204.7 billion, ranging from 1.94 billion to 9.9 billion rubles per lot. The rights to shares of the crab fishing quota in the Far Eastern fisheries basin were put up for sale. Most of the quota lots (23 units) were allocated for investment commitments to build a medium-tonnage crab fishing vessel with length overall exceeding 50 meters. Besides, buyers of three lots assume commitments to build additional infrastructure, namely large logistics hubs. Those who purchased one lot are committed to build a smaller hub.
The first auction for crab fishing quota lots was held on the RAD electronic platform October 2019 with paticipation of 23 fishing companies and 35 lots sold in the auction. 18 of the auction participants were awarded crab quotas. The total sale price was RUB 142.3 billion. Overall, 68 lots worth RUB358 billion were sold in 2019-2023 through the RAD online platform.
The Russian fishing sector began a transition from a previous simple scheme to the auction principle of fishing quota distribution in 2016. As part of the reform, market participants are required to build new fishing vessels at domestic shipyards if they would be willing to secure part of the quotas for catching biological resources. Under the first phase of “keel-per-quota” fishing fleet upgrade programme, 105 newbuilds are under construction.
The law on the second phase of investment quotas and crab auctions with investment obligations was signed last December. Ilya Shestakov, head of Rosrybolovstvo has previously said that the programme Phase 2 envisages building 30 new ships, including factory freezer vessels, as well as improving refrigeration capacity in five ports in the Russian Far East and the Arctic.
