Russia suspends Taiwanese saury imports

Taiwanese fishery authorities were surprised at Russia's order to prohibit imports of Pacific saury…

Taiwanese fishery authorities were surprised at Russia's order to prohibit imports of Pacific saury from Taiwan, which took effect on Dec. 15. It is believed that a misunderstanding may have led to the ban, with Russian inspectors mistaking Taiwanese fishing boats for canning factory ships, which have different sanitary and hygienic norms.

Russia's decision affects 87 enterprises in Taiwan, as well as an annual production of NT$500 million (US$16.7 million). The Fisheries Agency has already begun to formulate a plan with the Bureau of Foreign Trade and the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection to persuade Russia to lift the ban.

Russia is Taiwan's second-largest Pacific saury market, where 25,000 tonnes of fish were shipped last year. The Russian market represents one fifth of Taiwan's saury exports.

Figures showed that Taiwan had the biggest saury catch this year with 182,000 tonnes, overtaking last year's winner Japan.

Ria Novosti, one of the largest news agencies in Russia, said a delegation of saury specialists was sent to Taiwan and the delegation found that Taiwan had failed to respect the epidemic control norms that the Russian Federation imposed, while storage was not managed in an appropriate manner. Imports of Taiwanese saury has thus been "temporarily suspended" until the norms are respected, the broadcaster said.

However, some observers believe that Russia is trying to force Taiwan into lowering its saury prices by suspending the activity between both countries. Lin Tai-hua, a legislator with Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party, said the situation could have been due to international commercial competition, and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should try to have a clearer outline on the problem.

Shih Jiao-min, president of the Taiwan Squid Fishery Association, said it is unreasonable for Russian inspectors to request the same sanitary and hygienic level to fishing boats and canning factories on land. Suspecting that Russian inspectors could have been picking up on the boats' wooden floors, Shih said, "So you want all of them to use aluminum or stainless steel floors on the decks? In this case, the staff would not be able to stand still on the boat. How will they be able to work properly then?"