MOSCOW, August 13 Deliveries of fish and seafood from Russia to South Korea in the first half of this year fell by almost a quarter — to 136.7 thousand tons, while Seoul was unable to compensate for the lost supplies from the Russian Federation and a number of countries by increasing imports from others, calculated , having studied data from the Korean statistical service.
Thus, according to the results of the first half of 2024, South Korea’s import volumes of fish and seafood from Russia amounted to 136.7 thousand tons worth $426.3 million. This is 24.4% less than in the same period last year. Imports for June 2024 amounted to 13.4 thousand tons, and for 2023 — 312.9 thousand tons.
At the same time, the total volume of seafood imports by Koreans for the first half of the year decreased by 7.8% — to 581 thousand tons. The reduction in imports was with Russia, Peru, Norway, Pakistan, the United States and a number of other countries, by a total of 88.1 thousand tons. These lost volumes could not be covered by increasing imports from, for example, China, the Netherlands, Vietnam, Chile and the United Kingdom and other countries by 39.2 thousand tons.
Despite this, according to the results of January-June 2024, Russia became the second country in fish supplies to South Korea. First place was taken by China with a volume of 168 thousand tons, third — Vietnam (57.6 thousand tons), fourth — Norway (37.1 thousand), and fifth — the United States (28.3 thousand).
In the first half of the year, Koreans bought the most Russian frozen fish — 110.7 thousand tons for 183.1 million dollars. In second place were fillets and other fish meat — 12.9 thousand tons for 29.7 million dollars, and in third place were crustaceans — 9.5 thousand tons for 178.1 million dollars.
In addition, Moscow supplied Seoul with dried, salted and smoked fish (3.2 thousand tons or 32 million dollars), shellfish (318.9 tons or 1.4 million dollars), fresh and chilled fish (62 tons for 65 thousand dollars). Koreans also imported small quantities of fish meal (6.4 tons) and aquatic invertebrates, except for crustaceans and mollusks (5.5 tons).