August 29, 2012

 

 

Due to Russia's membership in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the country's import tariffs for crab and lobster could ceased while tariffs for processed fish products may decline to 12% for 2012 and expected to continually drop overtime.

 

The protocol of accession was inked in Geneva on December 16, 2011 after nearly 18 years of negotiations. Russia became a member of the WTO as of August 22 following the ratification of the protocol by the Duma.

 

Russia continues to be a hefty and rapidly booming market for imported fish and seafood, informs a recent USDA GAIN Report. Last year, Russia imported US$2.6 billion worth of fish and seafood, or 19% more than in 2010.

 

According to market analysts, variety and quality of seafood are increasingly important to Russian consumers, a shift which has led supermarkets to offer a broader variety of seafood that now includes squid, prawns, live scallops, snails, oysters and more apart from the traditional herring, mackerel and salmon.

 

Now that Russia has joined the WTO, frozen, fresh and chilled fish will have reduced tariffs between 2013 and 2017. The pre-accession applied bound rate is currently 10% and the final bound rate is expected to fall between 8% and 3% depending on the species.

 

For salmon and trout fillets, the final bound rate is expected to fall at 4% by 2016, and for cod fillets to 5% by 2015. Tariffs on frozen hake and pollock fillets will be set at 7% by 2014.

 

For crustaceans, the tariff on whole lobsters will fall from 10% to only 5% by 2015 for frozen and by 2016 for live lobsters. For non-whole frozen lobsters, the tariff will be between 10% and 8% by next year.

 

For frozen shrimp and prawns, the current tariff will fall between 5% and 3% by 2014-2015 depending on variety. For frozen crabs, it will fall between 10% and 5% by 2015-2016 depending on variety.

 

For molluscs, the pre-accession applied/post-accession bound rate will fall to 7% by 2015 for oysters, to 6% for scallops by 2015 and for mussels to 5% or 6% by 2016-2017, depending on variety.

 

"After many years of negotiations, it is positive that Russia can now take full part in the WTO together with 155 other countries," stated Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre.

 

"The fact that our countries are now bound by the same global trade rules means greater predictability for Norwegian companies. We look forward to constructive cooperation in the WTO," Støre added.