The Whittier Group is filing for bankruptcy to restructure more than $20 million of debt, most of which is owed from building a multi-food processing and cold storage plant in Washington state. Lenders pushed up the deadline to pay back the loan to June 18, but the group couldn’t meet its demands. The lenders turned to the courts to collect on the debt.
The Whittier Group is made of different seafood processors and distributors, including a salmon processing plant in the group’s namesake town.
In a court filing, founder Aleksey Kozlov said falling salmon prices led the Whittier processor to lose $2 million in 2022 and $7 million in 2023. He said they closed the plant entirely this year.
Alaska’s pink salmon runs have been a fraction of what was expected this year, and pale in comparison to historic runs. The struggle has also heavily affected commercial fishermen based out of the Gulf of Alaska and Prince William Sound.
The filing said the company anticipates selling assets like the processing plant, employee housing and boats as part of their reorganization plan.
In the filing, Kozlov wrote, “Salmon prices are expected to rise in 2025 as demand increases and supply remains low. Further, I expect the federal government will provide the salmon industry with a relief package.”
But salmon processing isn't the only issue for the Whittier Group. Kozlov said in the filing the conglomerate faced several struggles in its multinational distribution of Russian king and deepwater crab. He claimed banning Russian seafood imports after they invaded Ukraine in 2022 has been a hard hit to the group’s income.
Alaska lawmakers have applauded the ban, but Kozlov said it’s part of why the company filed for bankruptcy.
The ban and retaliation from the Russian government kept JSC Tefida — one of the company’s main suppliers that Kozlev also owns — from bringing crabs over to the distributor. Tefida also has a $6.3 million loan with the Whittier Group, and Koslev doesn’t expect to collect on that loan.
The group has a hearing scheduled for Sept. 12.
