News - page 39

The results of the first three quarters of 2018 show that Russia is leading among all of Britain’s trade partners with respect to the growth rate of their trade turnover (the growth rate of Russian exports amounts to 34.5%). Total trade turnover between the two countries for the January to September period increased by 20.2% as a result of Russian hydrocarbon exports, as well as Russian non-energy non-commodity exports (metals, chemicals, fertilisers, turbines, seafood, etc.), according to the 4th Russian–British Business Forum.

Since last August, 55,000 e-visas have been issued to foreign citizens willing to visit the Russian Far East. Most applications come from China (42,000 visas issued) and Japan (10,800 visas), according to the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East. 

The Russian government is working to bring traceability routines of separate industries into a single traceability system for animals, plants and products thereof, according to German Zverev, President VARPE (Association of Russian Fishermen, Processors and Exporters).

The first phase of a fish handling terminal has been completed in the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, according to Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (FAF).

Owners of land adjacent to Vladivostok Fish Port are going to commission an additional 80 thousand tonnes of coldstore facilities within the next four years to enable storage and handling of seafood from the whole of the Russian Far East, according to Russia’s fishery head Ilya Shestakov.

In order to safeguard the domestic market’s fish supply it would be best for the retail chains and the fishermen to make long term contracts to be fulfilled irrespective of the global market situation, said deputy head of Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (FAF) Pyotr Savchuk in an interview with Primamedia.

The introduction of millions of juvenile trepang in the Gulf of Vladimir by OOO Biobank of Primorye in the last six years has led to large abundance of the valuable sea cucumber with the first tonne of the product harvested and sent for processing.

Automatic recording reduces the registration of customs declarations for the goods from one hour to one minute while the automatic release of the goods takes 3 minutes instead of the usual four hours. In the both cases participation of a customs officer in the process is excluded, according to the Far East Сustoms Authority.

The Russian fishery sector is vigorously implementing electronic systems such as the Electronic Fishing Log and the “Mercury” Federal Information System for electronic veterinary certification. The related legislation for electronic systems in the fishery industry is also showing a steady progress, according to a report of Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries at a dedicated conference on 19 November current.

Dalian-based shipyard (China) has laid down the keel of a new fishing vessel Atka for Pacific Fishery Company (Tikhrybkom) with main office in Magadan, according to VARPE (Association of Russian Fishermen, Processors and Exporters).

Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (FAF), the State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM and the nation’s fishing companies are looking into possible establishment of a regular line to ship fish products from the Russian Far East to the country’s European part along the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic.

A state-of-the art fish processing complex with the designed daily capacity of 1000 tonnes of raw material is nearing completion at the Island of Shikotan in the Russian Far East.

The Russian Ministry of Agriculture has approved TAC 2019 for fishery in inland marine waters, in the territorial sea, on the continental shelf, in the Russian EEZ and in the Caspian Sea.

Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (FAF) has conducted a Dutch auction for companies bidding to win investment capture quota shares of Pacific cod, flounders, grenadier, wachna cod and halibut. The quota shares are linked to an obligation for winners to build a total of four land-based fish processing factories, according to FAF.

Provisional figures indicate that in January-September 2018 Russia produced 149,500 metric tons of commodity farmed fish, up by 6% as compared to the corresponding result of last year, according to Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (FAF).

In 2018 salmon roe exports from Primorye Territory (Capital Vladivostok) have sharply increased as compared to the same period last year, according to the regional office of Rosselkhoznadzor (Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance).

Under the programme of import substitution, Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce has conducted a tender for development of a “technological complex for remote monitoring of hydrobionts for fishing vessels”.

Russia’s Murman Seafood Company, which is building a fish factory in Kola near Murmansk, has signed a EUR10.3mln contract for delivery of groundfish processing plant based on X-ray and water-jet cutting technology, according to the company.

Russia’s updated Draft Strategy 2030 for Development of Fishery Economy Complex is seeking to overcome the raw material domination of the nation’s seafood exports in favour of value-added products, according to Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries.

In the first nine months of the current year 2018 Russia’s seafood market has been showing positive trends including rising output of fish fillets and mince and increasing seafood exports. Those trends have been developing against the background of decreasing imports of seafood, according to Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (FAF).