Government unveiling policy for Norwegian salmon imports into Russia in 2007

In 2007 the Russian Government's policy for import of Norwegian salmon in 2007 will be conducted under the existing permit mechanism, a spokesman of the Russian Vet and Phytosanitary Service Rosselkhoznadzor operating under the Ministry of Agriculture told Vedomosti.

Thus it will be possible to import salmon and trout only from the Norwegian plants approved by a Russian-Norwegian inspection team.

The Russian importers will be able to start shipments signing a contract with one of the approved operations while the list of the certified plants can be extended in the future.

Many large Russian importers, who were preparing for the worst back in December 2005 when the new routine was only emerging, are now happy with the regulations introduced by Rosselkhoznadzor Service, said the report.

The thing is that prior to 2006 the Russian importers had to be content with what was left over after the purchases by European and Japanese buyers and the quality would be sometimes unpredictable, according to deputy sales head of Severnaya Kompania Roman Lavrov quoted by the newspape.

Meanwhile, the Japanese inspectors will dwell at Norwegian factories day and night to control the entire process from smolt to uploading of ready product with the rejected fish going to Russia, owner of Atlant-Pacific Denis Savrasov took sides with his colleague, the report went on to explain.

After the approval of the 8 Norwegian plants it was for the first time that half-year contracts were concluded with salmon suppliers and the fish for the Russian buyers began being shipped weekly on certain days.

"Previously we would make contracts for a few months, sometimes working without any contract at all", agreed General Director of a major importer Russian Fish  Company Dmitriy Dangauer as quoted by the paper.

Big Norwegian players also reportedly approve of the rules. Prior to the new routine, large Norwegian suppliers were suffering from competition originating from Norwegian salmon supplied via third countries.

Now smaller buyers are looking for new sources of supply in Chile and Scotland for example while the Norwegian salmon and trout has been distributed between large Russian companies.

Some Russian importers also say that Rosselkhoznadzor vet service has thus made it impossible for grey companies to import and tuned the Norwegians to civilized trade with the Russians.

It is also agreed that the market has become more transparent, but not all large importers are happy because many of them missed the chance of importing before the end of 2006.