SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton — Aug 22, 2014 — Responding to the Russian boycott of US seafood that has impacted salmon roe and whiting, a majority of the major Alaskan and West Coast Seafood Processors are calling on Congress and the President to enact a retaliatory ban on Russian seafood imports.
Icicle, Ocean Beauty, Peter Pan, Trident, Unisea along with Alaska General Seafoods, Alyeska, Westward, and North Pacific Seafoods, along with the Bering Sea crab harvesters, all joined in this call for a trade action.
Should the US ban Russian seafood imports, the market impact would be consequential.
In 2013, for example, the US imported over $220 million Russian king crab and snow crab, representing about 2/3rd the value of all US seafood imports from Russia. For king crab, Russian product normally accounts for around 90% of the total US supply. This year, imports of king crab have been 50% higher through June than in 2013, at 12.5 million lbs, vs. 8.3 million lbs. through June of 2013.
Other major products would affected would be pollock and salmon. In 2013, the US imported 63 million pounds of pollock blocks, 90% of which are from China, and this is primarily Russian product. Frozen salmon blocks and fillets, primarily pink salmon, imports were 70 million pounds in 2013, of which 55 million was from China, and was mostly Russian product, although US pinks are also sent to China for processing.
A complete ban would upend the king crab market, and would impact users of Russian pollock and salmon in the US, which include the major customers of a number of companies calling for the ban on Russian products.
The proposed U.S. ban would remain in effect until Russia rescinds its ban on U.S. imports, and would include mechanisms to prohibit all seafood imports of Russian origin, including Russian-caught seafood that is transferred through other countries such as China before reaching the U.S.
"We did not start this fight, and we hope the Russians will call off their embargo. But a U.S. ban will signal to President Putin that America will not sit idly by while Russia disregards international law and tries to coerce the world into ignoring its transgressions through retaliatory actions," said Terry Shaff, President & CEO of UniSea Inc.
The call for a ban on Russian products is likely to get some Congressional support, particularly from the Alaskan delegation. But whether an actual ban is imposed will largely depend on whether this is chosen as a strategy to confront Russia by the Administration.
The fact of the industry calling for this, even though many of the companies involved currently sell Russian products, makes this an easy tool for the Administration to use, if they choose to do so.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.