Ukrainian producer Aquafrost fails to get to Russian market since March 2013
Odesa-based Aquafrost LLC, one of the leaders on the Ukrainian market of products made from surimi (minced fish used in the preparation of imitation seafood) and which sells products under the Vodny Mir trademark, says it has been unable to get its products onto the Russian market since March 2013 due to problems with the customs service.
"A ban on imports of products made by Aquafrost was imposed by Russia in March 2013. The arguments are the same – a lack of correspondence to some inexplicable parameters. All of the contracts under which we supplied products to Russia were broken due to the ban. As of now, all our appeals to various agencies on the possibility of resuming supplies have been in vain," Sales Director Eduard Korzun told Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that producers of the Customs Union have a chance to import similar products to Ukraine, without even paying import duty.
"In our opinion, the ban on the supply of products to Russia is linked to a desire to protect their producers from competition, and the absence of a response of our authorities to these steps is like the position of an ostrich, showing complete indifference to Ukrainian producers who have to work with the fiscal agencies, without a possibility of developing, under conditions of economic instability in Ukraine," Korzun said.
The company did not say what the share of exports of their products to Russia and what are the volumes in monetary terms.
Aquafrost is one of the largest producers of crabsticks and other products made of surimi in the CIS countries.
Products under the Vodny Mir brand (crabsticks, fish preserves and caviar, seafood mixes) are exported to the United States, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Moldova.
In 2012, the company planned to increase its revenue by one fourth thanks to entering the Russian market, to UAH 424 million.