Latvia's food and veterinary service reached an agreement with the veterinary services of Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine on exporting fish products. Veterinary certificates for exporting to these countries have already been coordinated. All companies registered with and supervised by the food and veterinary service are entitled to export to Kazakhstan and Moldova, whereas Ukraine's market will be open only to companies with permission to export to the EU.
The AS Paljassaare Kalatoostus fish processing company in Tallinn opened a new logistics center with enough refrigerating capacity to service rival companies. The facility has a capacity for approximately 3,500 tons and can maintain temperatures from -18 degrees to 6 degrees Celsius, officials of the Lithuanian-owned company said. The center is part of an ongoing investment program that started with the merger of Paljassaare Kalatoostus with Lithuania's Vichiunai Group three year ago.
The Estonian fish processing company Hiiu Kalur, which has undergone difficulties over the past two years, announced that it was going to set up plants in the Russian capital and Ukraine this year in order to bring production closer to its markets. A shrimp processing plant will be opened in Moscow this summer, and a plant for making canned sprats in the Crimean peninsula in the fall. The total size of the investment is about 27 million kroons (1.7 million euros). "We're doing everything to survive. The European Union made us move production out of Estonia, to markets where it is cheaper to produce and there are no customs barriers. We'll leave fishing and shrimping in Estonia," said Toomas Kouhkna, owner and manager of Hiiu Kalur. The Moscow plant will partially take over shrimp processing that had been conducted at Laatsa Kalatoostus (Laatsa Fish Processing) and will be supplied with shrimps by Hiiu Kalur's four oceangoing ships that specialize in shrimping. The plant has a planned capacity of 400 tons of shrimps per month and will create 30 jobs.
