Russian Aquaculture Demands to Restrict Fish Meal Exports

The Russian fish farmers association, Rosrybkhoz, has requested that the government implement restrictive measures for exporting fish meat and oil due to a shortage of raw materials in the domestic aquafeed industry.

“Introducing a total ban on the export of products from aquatic biological resources on our own in a situation where targeted sanctions are imposed on our country for certain types of aquatic biological resources is hardly reasonable. A total ban on exports is very bad,” said German Zverev, President of the All-Russian Association of Fisheries (VARPE) during a briefing.

He also added that at present there are enough people who want to limit the export of Russian fish and fish products. “We are actively working to ban the export of Russian products to the United States,” Zverev said. In addition, there are those who want to ban the export of certain types of Russian fish to the European Union.

“In a situation where fish producers are looking for any niches on the market that they can enter and sell their products there, introducing such an iron curtain based on some speculative schemes, from my point of view, is a completely wrong approach,” Zverev said.

According to the association, in 2022 the volume of fishmeal production in Russia increased by 12% compared to 2021 to 161.4 thousand tons.