Swedish companies willing to import more seafood from Russia’s Far East

Swedish companies willing to import more seafood from Russia’s Far East

Big Swedish companies are planning to boost their purchases of finfish and seafood from the Russian Far East Fishery Basin, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to TASS.

According to CEO and President of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for Russia & CIS Mr. Heinz Sjögren, major Swedish suppliers of equipment for fishery industry (among other sectors) are mostly keen on exports, but in the longer term they will be ready to raise imports of seafood products.

As for exports, Swedish companies think they can compete with Chinese suppliers in the Russian Far East in terms of quality and price.

The same positive outlook is given for Swedish imports. The Chinese consumer seems to have a lower purchasing power as compared to the Swedish and West European consumer who can afford to pay more for high quality salmon and crabs from Kamchatka, for example.

Swedish Export Credit Guarantee Board (EKN) has recently raised Russia’s rating from 4 to 3 (7-point scale). When making the assessment the Swedish experts have paid more attention to public finances rather than to geopolitical risks and sanctions. Russia has strong government finances, including a budget surplus of 1.6%, low external debt, a current account surplus of 6% of GDP and a large foreign exchange reserve.

Russia is the 15th largest country for Swedish exports and fifth for EKN export guarantees. According to the Board, Sweden’s exports to Russia fell sharply after introduction of sanctions and a fall in oil prices: from 22 billion SEK in 2014 to 14.7 billion SEK in 2015 (2.75 bln USD and 1.84 bln USD, respectively). However, in the recent years this figure has kept on growing again: in 2017 it reached 18.7 billion SEK (2.07 bln USD).