Russia Sea Food and Eat It

Russia, the largest country in the world,  Russia its coastline is washed by 12 seas and three oceans. Russia is connected with the Atlantic ocean through the Baltic Sea in the west and the Black Sea in the south. The Arctic Ocean and its seas including the White, Barents, Kara, Laptev, East‑Siberian Seas wash Russia in the north. The Pacific Ocean and its seas the Bering, Okhotsk, and Japanese Seas are in the east of Russia.
Now fish plays a very important part in the Russian diet and they eat a large amount of fish from the seas,rivers and lakes,from the famous caspiain sturgeon to pacific salmon, onto the Barents sea cod there are so many species that are eaten in the country and every provinical supermarket has a serious amount of fish on display and indeed even live fish,lobsters and crayfish in tanks

It was recently annunced Perekrestok, one of the largest retail chains, has made a significant breakthrough in the realm of direct partnerships. For the first time in the history of retail, it has entered into a direct agreement with one of the largest fish producers, the Russian Fishery Company (RRPK), and the fish processor Abydos to supply the product directly to the chain under the Lyudi Lyubit trademark.
BTW Perekrestok means in English 'Crossroads' and the barnd Lyudi Lyubit translets to People Love
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This innovative model of direct interaction eliminates the need for distributors, as well as several stages of fish processing and storage. This approach preserves the product's quality, which Perekrestok emphasises in the hopes of increasing consumer demand.A few days ago, the parties to the deal summed up the first results of their cooperation.The effect exceeded expectations: sales of pollock, which is usually in low demand, increased by 30% in Perekrestok in six months — precisely due to its sale under its own brand, "People Love." X5 Group, the owner of Perekrestok, plans to establish a similar scheme of work with other fishermen and for other types of seafood.Experts are confident that other retail chains will follow Perekrestok in making direct mass purchases from fishermen with subsequent orders for processing from fish factories, which will generally increase the production of fish products from fresher, higher-quality raw materials.

From the sea to the counter
The agreement on joint work between X5 Group, represented by the management of Perekrestok, and the Russian Fishing Company was concluded in March last year. The agreement concerned direct deliveries to Perekrestok of pollock caught in the Bering and Okhotsk Seas in the amount of 1,200 tons until the end of 2026. As per the agreement, the Russian Fishing Company's vessels are to catch pollock and process it at sea into skinless fillets, which are then to be frozen. 
The third party to the agreement, the veteran fish processing companyAgenzia, packages the fillets in branded "People Love" bags of different weights at the request ofPerekrestok.Perekrestok, in turn, has undertaken to deliver this pollock to its stores in 46 Russian regions (the chain has a total of 972 stores). The collaboration has led to a significant surge in sales of this widely caught but less popular fish variety.Historically, the Russian retail sector has primarily engaged with manufacturers of finished products and distributors, without direct interaction with fish harvesters. This new approach, as outlined by Alexandra Sukhareva, Director of the ultra-fresh, fruit and vegetable categories at Perekrestok, aims to ensure comprehensive traceability of fish quality from capture to retail.

Saveliy Karpushin, Director of Strategy and Commercial Affairs at the Russian Fishing Company, notes that pollock typically undergoes numerous processing, repackaging and storage stages, often resulting in a product that lacks flavour. He states that the modern fleet of the Russian Fishing Company enables the processing of freshly caught pollock into fillets at sea and subsequent shock freezing. This ensures that the texture taste and nutritional value of the wild white fish are preserved.
X5 Group Monoklyu has also expressed satisfaction with the experiment. The "fish" category in the Perekrestok chain is a priority area, with sales in 2024 showing a 25% increase compared to similar figures for the previous year. The company has been working towards this objective for some time, implementing various strategies such as promotions, expanding the range of fish and fish products in collaboration with processors, and increasing the segment of ready-made fish meals, as well as strengthening its cooperation with restaurant chains. Notably, the sales of pollock, which typically experience seasonal fluctuations, surged by 33% in the chain's stores, reaching 230 tons, as reported by the press service of X5 Group.

They also assured that the volume of fish supplies under the agreement with the Russian Fishing Company will be doubled this year. The retailer is now considering launching new similar projects. "We will continue to expand cooperation along the fisherman-processor-network chain for such types of fish and seafood as Commander squid, pink salmon, sockeye salmon, cod, and red caviar," X5 Group said.
Collaboration between participants in the fish chain is set to become a new trend in the Russian food market.Speaking on the subject, Andrey Karpov, president of the Association of Retail Market Experts, said: "The fish shelf has always been a headache for retailers; there is simply nowhere to get large volumes of quality fish."He added: "Working directly with fish producers to order in large volumes allows the retailer to control its quality at all stages of processing, storage and transportation, which is impossible when working with distributors. This approach provides retailers with a guaranteed volume of fresh fish for subsequent processing or sale, and it is likely that other retail chains will adopt similar strategies to reduce costs and improve product quality.From a commercial perspective, fishermen and fish processors also benefit from a guaranteed sales volume and enterprise workload. However, according to Alexander Panin, Director General of the Fish Union, they now need to focus on securing a place on the shelf more than ever before. "Fishermen's costs have doubled in two years, and they partially pass these on to processors, whose cost price has also increased by almost a third. Consequently, retail prices for fish products have grown and will continue to grow, which will restrain their consumption to some extent," says Alexander Panin. "There can only be one way out: new types of products, brands, recipes, packaging, sales formats, etc. However, processors currently lack the financial resources to invest in new projects, and there is a lack of investment in developing new factories for these new products."
According to the Fish Union, fish production decreased by 5% last year, from 3.8 to 3.6 million tons, following a decrease in the all-Russian catch of aquatic bioresources — from 5.5 million tons in 2023 to just over 5 million tons in 2024. Concurrently, the revenue of all fish processing enterprises grew by 8%, reaching 240 billion rubles, driven by an increase in costs and prices.From 2022 to 2024, the average cost of frozen fish in Russia rose from 200 to 240 rubles per kilogram.
Consequently, profitability in the industry has been declining for several consecutive years: for fishermen, it has decreased from 68% in 2021 to 23% in 2024, and for processors, from 19 to 9% over the same period. The intense competition has led to a decline in the number of fish processing enterprises, with a decrease from 2,396 in 2020 to 2,015 in 2024.In response to these challenges, leading fish processors are exploring innovative approaches to meet consumer demands, as consumers are increasingly opting for cooked fish over raw options. Last year, the production of frozen fish decreased the most, while the production of fillets and surimi increased. For example, the production of frozen fish fillets increased by 5%, while the production of simply frozen fish decreased by 12%.

"Those who fail to restructure their  production to develop  new types of products will have profitability tending to zero in the future, so leading companies are now looking for different recipes and other forms of processing," says Alexander Panin.
For example, the same Agama has launched a ready-to-cook line of ready-to-cook food (paella with seafood, cod with mushroom sauce, etc.) for the first time. Meridian intends to increase profitability by expanding its new line of rietas and other snacks. Another major fish processor, Europrom, has placed its bets on surimi, which is popular with consumers, and has launched new Snow Crab rolls and a roll with corn. "Yes, you can and should enter the segment of ready-to-cook food, snacks, new packaging, flavors, and form factors, but you have to be ready to play the long game," says Yana Petysh, a representative of Europrom. "New products in this segment do not win the hearts of buyers as quickly as manufacturers would like, so it is necessary to balance between new products and the main assortment. It is the basic assortment, provided that its taste and quality are preserved or improved, that allows manufacturers to retain customers. In this case, new products serve rather as an additional way to attract the attention of the target audience." Yana Petysh claims that if there is an initiative on the part of retail chains, they are ready to work according to a scheme that involves mass production of private labels (which they have been doing for a long time) from raw materials directly from fishermen.