“The Russian Fish” campaign officially launches, targeting China

The Russian Agency for Fisheries has officially launched “The Russian Fish,” a new public-private partnership focused on marketing Russia’s seafood products abroad.

First announced in 2018, the government-organized, non-commercial organization has already signed on its first members, which include state-owned enterprises, The Expo Solutions group, which organizes the annual Global Fishery Forum and Seafood Expo Russia in St. Petersburg, and more than 20 seafood companies.

The Russian Fish is modeled after similar campaigns operated by other seafood-producing nations, such as Seafood from Norway. The partnership is charged with the marketing of Russian seafood, as well as helping Russian seafood firms find new partners and distribution channels.

The formal launch took place at the China Fisheries & Seafood Expo in Qingdao, China in October 2019. At the event, Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries Deputy Head Pyotr Savchuk said China would be a primary focus of the new organization. The market for imported seafood in China is growing, Savchuk said, predicting that global consumption will increase from the current per capita estimate of 26 kilograms to 45 kilograms by 2030.

Entering the Chinese market requires significant planning and preparation from the Russian seafood sector, Savchuk said. But with the centralized structure of a national organization, Russia will be able to establish a stronger positive association between its seafood products and qualities the Chinese consumer is looking for, he added.

“The market is getting bigger due to an increase in income of the middle class. Many people are increasingly willing to eat wild fish, not farmed. Meanwhile, the wild catch of China has not been going up over recent years. So, we see that we have our target audience here,” he said.

Photo courtesy of Cliff White/SeafoodSource