Russia hopes to raise fish, seafood exports to China after Japan ban
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Russia is one of the biggest marine product suppliers to China, with 894 Russian companies allowed to export seafood.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MOSCOW/TOKYO – Russia hopes to increase its marine product exports to China in the wake of China’s ban on Japanese seafood imports after the release of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.
Russia is one of the biggest marine product suppliers to China, with 894 Russian companies allowed to export seafood, Rosselkhoznadzor, the Russian food safety watchdog, said in July.
In a statement late on Friday, Rosselkhoznadzor said it was seeking to increase the number of exporters.
“The Chinese market in general is promising for Russian fish products. We hope to increase the number of certified Russian companies and ships, the volume of products and their range,” the Rosselkhoznadzor statement said.
To aid that effort, Rosselkhoznadzor plans to continue dialogue with China on seafood safety issues and finish negotiations with China on regulations for supplying Russian marine products to the country, the statement said.
China has already banned some food imports from Japan,
China was the destination for more than half of Russian aquatic product exports between January and August, the statement said without providing figures, dominated by pollock, herring, flounder, sardine, cod and crab.
Russia exported 2.3 million tonnes of marine products in 2022 worth about US$6.1 billion (S$8.3 billion), around half of its overall catch, with China, South Korea and Japan the biggest importers, according to Russia’s fisheries agency.
Japan said criticism from Russia and China was unsupported by scientific evidence and pollution levels in the water will be below those considered safe for drinking under World Health Organisation standards.
Still, Rosselkhoznadzor said it has tightened the screening of seafood imports from Japan, though the volumes are insignificant.
The regulator also said the direction of currents in the Russian Far East, where about 70 per cent of Russia’s seafood is caught, “would prevent contamination” of marine products caught by Russian ships.
It has also tightened the radiological control of seafood caught in Russian waters that are relatively close to Fukushima and would test selected samples for radiation levels, news agency Interfax reported on Thursday, citing Rosselkhoznadzor’s Pacific office. REUTERS
