Korsakov (town) - Economy

Economy

According to a November 1, 1945 Soviet reports, the town had:

• two refrigerators for fish processing
• paper factory
• a factory to extract salt from sea water (production capacity 20 thousand tons per year)
• a sulphur-alcohol plant
• 7 sake production facilities
• 2 timber plants

Up until the 1990s, Korsakov was a major base for the Russian Far Eastern fishing fleet. It was the home of the Base for Ocean Shipping—Baza Okeanicheskogo Rybolovstva—which, however, went bankrupt during the post-Soviet recession, perhaps for no better reason than downright looting of state property. The thousands of fishermen employed in the "Bor" continued their work for private fishing companies, which usually operated small fishing boats not far off the coast, often without licenses. The catch (primarily crab) was sold in Japan for hard currency, mainly in Wakkanai. Fishermen purchased Japanese electronics and used cars. This semi-illicit, semi-barter economy had a certain positive economic effect on Korsakov, though it inevitably contributed to organized crime.

Among other large economic units in Korsakov was a factory, which produced carton boxes—Fabrika Gofrirovannoy Tary. The factory operated on run-down equipment, probably left over from the Japanese times, and was visible to anyone in Korsakov, as it featured a tall chimney. Gennady Zlivko, formerly a mayor of the town, was once a director of this factory. It has long since gone bankrupt, and its tall chimney, no longer emitting black smoke, is the only thing that reminds one of the earlier years of Korsakov's economy.

Korsakov is also the closest town to the huge LNG plant, constructed within the framework of the Sakhalin-2 project.