Russia increased the production of oysters during the pandemic – RBC

by time news

In Crimea, the second largest producing region, only 212 tons of oysters were grown in 2021, four times less than in 2019 (922 tons). In the Krasnodar Territory, production fell by 47.2% over two years, from 36 to 19 tons. Only Sevastopol increased the figures: in 2021, oysters were grown there 2.6 times more than two years ago (101 tons). Prior to this, the production of oysters in these regions was growing: in 2018, in Crimea, on the southern coast and on Lake Donuzlav, production amounted to 706 tons (twice as much as a year earlier), in Sevastopol – 87 tons (+ 34%), in Krasnodar Territory – 55 tons (2.8 times more than a year earlier).

The decline in shellfish production in the Crimea and Kuban is caused by a number of reasons, including adverse weather conditions, Sergey Tatko, chairman of the board of the Black Sea Association of Mariculture Enterprises, explains. In 2020 and 2021, a thermocline arose in the Krasnodar Territory due to abnormal heat – a temperature jump in different layers of water (the water temperature rose more than 27 degrees). Also, last year’s heavy rainfall and storms in the Black Sea affected mariculture cages, causing oyster kills on aquaculture farms, Tatko says.

Read on RBC Pro

In Sochi, the beaches were closed, and in Anapa they warned of a “volley release of precipitation”

In parallel with the death of mollusks, farmers have had problems with the purchase of planting material – oyster fry, or spat, which enterprises import from European countries, mainly from France, says Tatko. “This is due to the introduction of a quarantine system for oysters: when spat is purchased abroad, it must lie in quarantine in pools without a food base for a month – during this time, the fry dies,” explains Tatko.

The activities of oyster and mussel farms in Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory were also affected by excessive demands from supervisory authorities, says Tatko: back in 2019, farmers complained of “supervisory repression” due to the fact that their business was equated with environmental risks to oil pipelines and was obliged to undergo a difficult and the costly procedure of the state ecological expertise. According to Tatko, out of 11 enterprises that submitted documents for obtaining state expertise, nine were refused, and new investors lost interest in this business.

Owners of oyster farms in Crimea announced supervisory “repressions”

Photo: Stanislav Krasilnikov / TASS

What’s happening to the demand for oysters

Oysters are a delicacy that does not belong to mass-market products, and manufacturers supply them mainly to restaurants, Bogoslavsky explained earlier to RBC. In restaurants, customers are mainly offered seaside oysters, which are cheaper, and more expensive oysters that are grown on the Black Sea are in demand at resorts in the summer season, when people go on vacation to the Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory, says vice president of the Association of Industrial and Commercial enterprises of the fish market Alexander Fomin.

The demand for oysters and mussels in Russia increased in 2021, Zverev states, but does not specify how much the growth was. The growth in demand, according to the expert, was facilitated by the revival of the restaurant sector, the development of domestic tourism, as well as the consequences of the pandemic. “Due to travel restrictions caused by the pandemic, as well as due to regular self-isolation regimes, Russians have increased the need to go to restaurants, as well as indulge in “vacation” food. Therefore, both traders and processors confirm to us the demand for premium products both from HoReCa (hotels, restaurants and catering. — RBC), and retail,” says Zverev.

You may also like

Leave a Comment