April 29, 2009
Nicaragua to export seafood to Russia in July
Nicaragua may begin to export shrimp and lobster to Russia in July, following the granting of required sanitary and quality certifications to several shrimp farming companies and laboratories by a Russian inspection team, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced.
The shipments would take place in the middle of year under the support of a commercial memorandum of understanding signed some days ago between both governments of Nicaragua and Russia on fish product commercialisation.
Russian delegates visited several industrial plants in the Caribbean and Pacific to inspect the processing procedures, indicated the Ministry's coordinator in the area of Fisheries, Elliot Lopez.
For now, some details remain to be worked out regarding product prices and volumes to be exported by the local companies of Salma, Langostinos and Camanica, three of the five firms certified.
The head of the Russian delegation, Dubrovin Ergeny, commented on Russia's interest in acquiring some 500,000 tonnes of Nicaraguan marine products during the agreement's signing in Managua.
According to available data, domestic seafood production last year surpassed 25,000 tonnes. Of the total, 14,720 tonnes consisted of farmed shrimp, 4,600 tonnes of fish, 1,300 tonnes of trawled shrimp and 1,200 tonnes of lobster.
According to Notimex reports, export value of these products totalled US$137 million in which US$56 million were obtained from shrimp sales and US$40 million from sales of lobster.
