Media writings about very strong positions of Russian pollock in the U.S. market, which are reportedly weakening positions of Alaska’s fishermen, are not true, a representative of the Russian Federal Fishery Agency (Rosrybolovstvo) in the United States has said, according to Izvestya.
“Both the United States and Russia are catching this fish, freezing it and sending it to China. The Americans are sending 90 percent of their pollock for processing in China, we are also sending significant volumes [to China]. The fish is mixed there and it is impossible to determine origins of pollock,” Oleg Rykov said.
On Saturday, CNN reported that Russian pollock was cheaper than its US-caught equivalent, which undermines positions of Alaskan fishermen. Russian-caught pollock reportedly gained the share of about $200 million in the US market and is even served to US school children.
The official denied the reports about harmful supplements that are allegedly added to pollock in China as well as those about the $200-million share of Russian pollock in the U.S. market.
“This is the whole volume of pollock sales in the U.S. market, including the U.S. product. Within the first 11 months of 2018, China sent to the United States the processed pollock products worth of $60 million. In other words, that is even not half of this market,” Rykov noted.
The official said that only a small part of Russian pollock coming to the U.S. market was being served in schools. According to Rykov, the difficulties faced by American pollock producers are caused by the ongoing U.S.-Chinese trade war and have nothing with Russia.
