Despite war, Japan reports record fish imports from Russia

The deterioration in Russian-Japanese relations caused by the outbreak of war in Ukraine has not affected exports of Russian fish products to Japan.

On the contrary, imports from Russia hit a record 155.2 billion yen (US$ 1.2 billion) worth of fish products in 2022, the highest since 1992, the year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance.

After the war began in Ukraine, Japan banned the import of certain goods from Russia, including vodka and timber, but not seafood products because of the negative effect a ban would have had on Japanese companies, Asia News reports.

Japan imports an estimated 40 per cent of the seafood consumed domestically, while Russia is the third-largest supplier after Chile and the United States.

By product, snow crab accounted for the highest value of imports from Russia in 2022 at 32.6 billion yen (US$ 252 million).

Record imports are also the result of Russian exporters shifting to Japan after being banned from the US and other Western markets.

Imports of pollack paste, the raw ingredient for "kamaboko" fishcakes, increased roughly sevenfold from the previous year.

Poor fishing conditions in Japan also boosted imports of sea urchins, salmon, and trout from Russia, among other products.

“The Russian government is focusing on revitalising the fishing industry for the development of its Far East,” said Seiji Haraguchi, director of the Hokkaido Trawl Fisheries Cooperative Federation.

“The presence of Russian products (in Japan) is expected to increase in the future as production continues to decrease in the United States,” he added.