Russia stopped buying seafood from the US three years ago in protest against US sanctions for its invasions in Ukraine and Crimea. For Alaska, that’s been a loss of about $90 million each year in sales of pink salmon roe and pollock products.
But it hasn’t stopped the US from continuing its purchases of Russian seafood. Imports to the US have increased by more than 3 million tons since June 2015.
Here’s a table illustrating Russian seafood imports to the U.S. from NMFS Trade Data:
| Total U.S. Imports of Russian Seafood, 2010-2017 | ||
| MT | $M | |
| 2010 | 27,336 | $269.1 |
| 2011 | 21,474 | $268.9 |
| 2012 | 19,682 | $229.5 |
| 2013 | 28,905 | $327.6 |
| 2014 | 23,345 | $320.5 |
| 2015 | 23,716 | $317.1 |
| 2016 | 26,945 | $411.1 |
| Thru June 2016 | 11,673 | $184.4 |
| Thru June 2017 | 16,406 | $266.7 |
Credit: ASMI
