Russian vet watchdog sees potential for more frozen fish imports from Uruguay

During recent video talks with Uruguay, Russia’s vet watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has noted that there is a potential for more frozen fish imports from Uruguay to the domestic market, reports Megafishnett.com.

According to Rosselkhoznadzor, Uruguay is an important trading partner, but the COVID-19 pandemic, the global decline in purchasing power and other factors had an expected impact on food trade between the two countries. In 2020, the trade turnover decreased by 19.3% and amounted to $ 163.5 million. At the same time, Russian exports increased by 47.8% to 44.5 million US dollars mainly due to an increase in the share of supplies of potash and nitrogen fertilizers, while imports decreased by 31.1% to 119 million US dollars due to reduced purchases of butter, milk and cream, frozen fish and citrus fruits. This year, the downward trend for the supply of Uruguayan products to the Russian market for certain items has remained.

In addition, such dynamics are driven by the import substitution strategy adopted in Russia and the resulting reduction of purchases of basic foods from abroad.

At the same time, according to Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia is interested in increasing the presence of certain Uruguayan products on the domestic market. In particular, the potential for supplying frozen fish, citrus and stone fruits to Russia has not been fully realized.

Officials from Uruguay also expect an increase in the level of mutual trade between the two countries, the creation of interstate councils of various directions and the development of the legal framework. A special interest was expressed to the introduction of electronic certification mechanisms into trade processes.