Two more cos allowed to export shrimp to Russia

Two more companies have got approval from the Russian authority to export shrimp to the European market, an official said.
Sea Fresh Ltd and SAR & Co secured export approval from Russia. With the latest approval, the total number of local farms eligible for exporting frozen food to the Russian market has reached eight.
"We've got letters from Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance of Russian Federation (Rosselkhoznadzor) on Sunday," principal scientific officer of the state-run Fish Inspection and Quality Control (FIQC) unit under the Department of Fisheries Nittya Ranjan Biswas told the FE said.  
The Russian go-ahead came four months after the Fisheries Department sent recommendation to the Russian federal agency for the two companies in light of Russian buyers' request.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding between Bangladesh and Russia, the Fisheries Department requires recommending names of fish processing plants for exports.
Mr Biswas said if a Russian buyer is satisfied food safety and sanitary requirement after visiting fish processing plants and recommending to the Rosselkhoznadzor, then the Russian authority will consider allowing export of frozen food.
At present, Bagerhat Sea Food Ltd, Fresh Foods Ltd, Apex Food Ltd, ARK Sea Food Ltd, Gemini Sea Foods Ltd and Rupsha Sea Foods are exporting frozen foods to Russia.
Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA) president SM Amzad Hossain said Bangladesh exports about seven per cent of total frozen food exports to Russia. The annual exports to Russia are now worth Tk 3.0 billion to Tk 3.5 billion.
"This new opportunity will help our exporters to expand the market there, although we are facing trouble in exporting frozen food to the Russian market due to devaluation of ruble against US dollar," he said.
He expressed the hope that after resolving this problem, the local exporters will be able to export frozen foods in large volume.
Bangladesh exported frozen foods worth $ 429.35 million in July to February of the fiscal year 2014-15, compared with $ 458.30 million of the same period last fiscal, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed.
The government has set a target of exporting $ 731.08 million worth of frozen foods this fiscal.
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