Shipments of Norwegian salmon to Russia declined almost 30 percent in January 2014 compared with the same period last year, RIA Novosti said citing the Association of Fish Market Industrial and Commercial Enterprises. The reason is said to be a sharp rise in Norwegian trout and salmon prices, which is 60 percent up from the previous year.
Due to high prices, many Russian fish processors resulted in a negative margin. At the same time, they did not manage to fully replace Norwegian salmon by Russian one. That is why the companies had to cut production. The association said that a part of fisheries whose businesses are not diversified face the threat of bankruptcy.
In 2013, salmon imports from Norway fell 11 percent to 134,000 tonnes. According to the association, there are signs of non-market pricing for this product in Norway. In particular, some EU importers started to abandon contracts. In early January, Norwegian media reported that Russia’s Rosselhoznadzor together with domestic fish companies were trying to drive out Norwegian exporters from the market.
Russian regulators demanded that Norwegians made exclusive agreements with Russia’s exporters in exchange for the removal of barriers from Russia’s fishing authority.
On January 1, 2014, Rosselkhoznadzor temporarily banned imports of Norwegian fish to Russia from a dozen of companies. Head of the Rosselkhoznadzor Sergey Dankvert spoke out in favor of sanctions saying that the veterinary service of Norway does not control the security of shipments, while fish makers do not meet Russian veterinary and sanitary requirements.
