MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. Russia’s ban on many Western food imports presents a great opportunity for seafood exports from Nicaragua, as Russian importers express their interest in shrimp supplies from this Central American country.

“Imposition of sanctions has opened up new opportunities for Nicaraguan suppliers,” Sergey Dankvert, head of the Russian veterinary and phytosanitary service Rosselkhoznadzor, said on Thursday.

The Rosselkhoznadzor watchdog is ready not only to update its earlier agreements with Nicaragua but also to work out new ones for deliveries of new products, Dankvert said.

According to Rosselkhoznadzor data, Nicaragua’s companies registered to sell products to Russia in 2009 and 2010 included six enterprises supplying by-products, five beef suppliers and seven fish companies. Their products were consistently supplied to the Russian market, and laboratory checks revealed no violations, the regulator said.

 

 

At present, it was necessary to develop logistical routes to ensure direct supplies from Central and South America, bypassing such intermediaries as The Netherlands, Dankvert added.

Russia banned imports of meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the United States, the 28-nation European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway for one year at the start of August, retaliating for sanctions imposed by those nations over events in Ukraine.

Since then, Russia has been in talks with Latin and South American countries, the Middle East and Asia to replace prohibited produce.