Russian vets delay switch to pelagic imports from Russia-approved Norwegian plants

The Russian and Norwegian authorities have again agreed to postpone the deadline for the switch to pelagic imports from Russia-approved Norwegian plants affecting such pelagic species as herring, mackerel and capelin. More specifically, the deadline has been moved from 25 January 2008 to mid of March 2008, a spokesman of Rosselkhoznadzor told http://www.fishnet-russia.com/ .

In fact, in March an official meeting of the Norwegian and Russian working group will be held where the questions of Norwegian export to Russia will be on the agenda to outline more concrete prospects in this field.

In 30 October 2007 the Norwegian Food Safety Authority had received a notification from Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Rosselkhoznadzor according to which as of 15 November 2007 Russia should have stopped importing pelagic fish from most of the Norwegian plants. The document said that the Russian vets had approved only 7 out of 43 Norwegian exporters of herring and mackerel willing to supply their products to Russia.

Later on, in the course of a series of consultations in Moscow and Oslo, the sides reached an agreement to move the deadline of the above mentioned pelagic species to 15 December 2007. In the end of November 2007 a group of Russian vet inspectors came to Norway to check 15 Norwegian herring and mackerel exporters to possibly expand the list of suppliers before the latest deadline.

Russia is Norway's main herring market with the country's total imports of Norwegian pelagics amounting to 1.2 billion NOK equal to more than 222 million USD.

This delay has come just in time for Norwegian exporters because it is a hot season for herring in Norway and Russian market has been increasing.