Turkey, one of the world’s top producers and exporters of anchovies, has for the first time begun importing the fish from Russia, according to a report by Medyagunlugu.com.
The move comes despite Turkey’s record 2023 harvest and highlights the role of pricing in shifting trade dynamics between the two Black Sea countries.
Yuriy Atanov, head of the Union of Fisheries Enterprises of Krasnodar and the North Caucasus on Russia’s Black Sea coast, said anchovies caught this season in the waters off Novorossiysk have attracted interest from Turkish importers.
Despite Turkey’s large anchovy industry along its own Black Sea coast, Atanov said the preference for Russian anchovies is due entirely to economic reasons. “Our anchovies are cheaper,” he told Medyagunlugu.com.
In Russia, the price per kilogram of anchovies typically ranges from 300 to 400 rubles (approximately 138–185 Turkish lira). Prices in Novorossiysk reportedly spiked to 600 rubles (around 277 lira) in October, triggering public complaints over affordability.
In Turkey, the price per kilogram was around 250 lira as of April.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s 2024 “Fisheries Product Report,” anchovy remains the most important fish species caught in Turkish waters.
The report shows that Turkey’s anchovy catch surged by 117 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, reaching 273,915 tons — the highest figure in the past five years.
Catches have fluctuated significantly over the past half-decade. In 2019, Turkey landed 96,452 tons of anchovies, which jumped to 262,544 tons in 2020. The total then dropped to 151,598 tons in 2021 and further declined to 125,980 tons in 2022 — a decrease of about 17 percent year-on-year. In 2023, the figure rebounded sharply.
Experts attribute these fluctuations to several factors, including climate change, marine pollution, the widespread use of fish finders and especially stock depletion due to overfishing in the Black Sea.
Despite quotas and seasonal fishing bans imposed by the ministry, continued pressure on anchovy stocks has led to a decline in the average size and nutritional value of the fish.
Of Turkey’s total seafood production — 93 percent or about 454,000 tons — comes from its surrounding seas, with the Black Sea accounting for roughly 75 percent of this figure. In 2021 Turkish media reported that due to unusually warm sea temperatures, anchovy schools had migrated toward cooler waters off the coasts of Georgia and Russia.
While most of Turkey’s $1.7 billion in seafood exports goes to European Union countries, Russia was the top importer in 2023, buying 61,726 tons of Turkish seafood.
At the close of the latest fishing season on April 15, Turkey earned $9.17 million in foreign currency from anchovy exports to 20 countries.
On the import side, Turkey brings in the most seafood — primarily mackerel and sardines — from Morocco, and mackerel, horse mackerel and salmon from Norway. The Agriculture Ministry’s latest report contains no data on anchovy imports from Russia, suggesting that this is a new and emerging trade relationship.