Sanctions Imposed on Two Fish Exporters
Russian customs officials have temporarily blocked two Estonian importers after having conducted an inspection of Estonian dairy and fish exporters in October.
The head of the Estonian Veterinary and Food Board, Ago Pärtel, told ERR radio that the sanctions would affect two suppliers of fish products, Saare Fishexport and Geirom, starting next Monday. One of the companies obtains its raw materials from third countries.
"The Russian inspectors pointed out difficulties in following the production process from the raw material to the end product and they believed that it was possible that in some cases products could have been exported to Russia where the raw material was supplied by companies that were not in the list of companies recognized by Russia or which had temporary restrictions," said Pärtel.
Pärtel said the companies also appeared to have failed to produce some required testing on the raw materials.
Geirom has Successful Estonian Company certification in 2013 while Saare Fishexport ranked 70th in this year's Äripäev list of most profitable Estonian food processing companies.