Fish Union asks ag minister to exclude fish from food import ban

MOSCOW, Mar 26 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Fish Union, an organization that unites producers and processers of fish, has asked Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev to exclude fish from the list of the food import ban due to the lack of raw fish in the country, the union said in a letter seen by PRIME on Thursday.

“We ask you to give an order to the government to prepare a ruling that excludes fish products from the list of agricultural products, raw materials, and food (imports of which are banned) from the countries that decided to impose economic sanctions against Russian companies and individuals,” the letter read.

Over the past five years, the country failed to substitute imports of fish completely. The local market lacks raw fish and fish consumption is low, the union said.

“At the same time, the government has set the target of raising exports of fish to U.S. $8.4 billion until 2024, which will need additional 4–6 tonnes of raw fish according to our calculations,” the union said.

It would be impossible to cover deficit of raw fish with a rapid increase of fish catch as the catch is restricted by international agreements, and the domestic aquaculture production will increase by only about several hundreds of thousands of tonnes until 2030, the union added.

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