Direct seafood exports to China plummeting in 2021
Direct Russian seafood exports to China have been plummeting in 2021, reports Megafishnet.com.
In fact, the direct deliveries of fish products from Russia to China in 2021 fell five times and, as of May 2, amounted to a mere 84 thousand tons. This was announced at the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum by the head of the Russian vet watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor Sergey Dankvert quoted by TASS. By comparison, last year for the same period 389 thousand tons were shipped.
Mr. Dankvert noted that the current situation was significantly affected by the ban imposed by the Chinese provincial authorities on the supply of fish products by trampers as previously, this was one of the main ways to deliver fish from fishing areas to China. The increased period of customs clearance has also contributed to the plunge.
"Negotiations with the competent authority of China are being conducted on an ongoing basis. However, the situation is complicated by the epidemic situation in Russia for coronavirus and China's regular detection of coronavirus genetic material on the packaging of Russian products, " the head of the Rosselkhoznadzor said.
He said that since China began conducting such studies, the genetic material of the coronavirus has been detected by the Chinese authorities on the packaging of products from 28 Russian fish processing enterprises and ships, three poultry production enterprises and one plywood production enterprise.
Of these, 17 cases of coronavirus detection on fish products, three-on poultry products, and one on plywood were discovered by the Chinese side in 2021.
Dankvert stressed that the genome of the coronavirus is detected by the Chinese authorities mainly on the outer packaging of Russian products, that is, contamination of cargo is possible at any stage-from the place of storage in Russia to transportation and unloading in China. At the same time, Russian manufacturers have implemented control measures at enterprises with workers tested and vaccinated, and cargo disinfected before shipment.
The Rosselkhoznadzor also conducts a study of products for the presence of the coronavirus genome before sending goods to China, and also takes other measures such as the development and translation of recommendations, disinfection, re-examination of enterprises, approval of a new certificate and terms of delivery, and others.
He added that 657 of the 840 Russian enterprises have already been re-examined for compliance with the requirements of China. Another 146 enterprises are seasonal, their re-examination will be carried out after the resumption of work. More than 30 enterprises did not pass the survey.
"However, in the current situation, we should not expect an early resumption of the previous export volumes," Dankvert concluded.