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    • Salmon and seafood trade among the hardest hit by Russian ban

      EUROPEAN road hauliers and shippers transporting fish and other seafood to Russia expect to feel the pinch from a ban on food imports imposed last week by Moscow.


      Transporters of Norwegian-origin seafood could be among those hardest hit, after Russia, which consumes nearly seven per cent of global salmon production, banned all Norwegian seafood last week.


      The Kremlin also banned a wide range of agricultural products from countries that have imposed sanctions against Russia over its role in the Ukrainian conflict.


      According to the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC), last year an average of 134 trucks per week carried fresh salmon and fjord trout to Russia, reports Lloyd's Loading List.


      Norwegian seafood exports to Russia totalled 295,000 tonnes in 2013. In the first seven months of this year, Norway exported 128,000 tonnes of seafood to Russia, down 11 per cent year on year.


      Norway is the world's biggest fish farmer and accounts for 50 per cent of the world's salmon trade, well ahead of No 2 Chile. The sector exports US$1 billion in seafood each month, with 10 per cent going to Russia.


      The NSC takes comfort in the rising value of exports to Poland, which has increased significantly, but it did not indicate to what degree this would compensate for Russian export ban.


      Klaus Hatlebrekke, vice president for marketing at fish farmer Norway Royal Salmon, told The Moscow Times: "Russia has been a very unpredictable market, but now it has become predictable: we will be selling nothing."


      Mr Hatlebrekke said salmon bound for Russia this week were being sold to other markets "and that seems to be going well, though at lower prices".


      In the UK, the manager of Peterhead fish processor Luna, Sinclair Banks, fears for his firm because of the Russian ban. He told the BBC that half his output went to Russia and the Ukraine.


      There were also reports that trucks moving containers of seafood from different points, which had been ordered before the ban took effect, were held up at Russian customs awaiting clearance.