Swimming in gains

India seems to be a beneficiary of the brewing tensions between Ukraine, Russia and USA. Especially seafoods. Post the US blaming Russia for bringing down the Malaysian Airlines MH17, Russia retaliated by imposing an embargo on food imports from USA, Canada, Australia and European Union.  This included a ban on dairy products, meat, fish, shell fish, fruits and vegetables.

And this is where India is now gaining with immense opportunities coming up for export of seafood to Russia. Major Indo-Russian consultants are overactive, working towards booking consignments to Russia. As per data put out by Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) authorities, India is exporting 7,400 tonnes seafood including shrimp and other fish varieties, valued about Rs. 310 crore, to Russia per annum and this value is expected to go up this year. The Indo-Russian consulting firms now offer services to find Russian buyers and negotiate with them if Indian exporters are ready to export enough volume of marine products.

But more than India, there is one big gainer - the Faroe Islands, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. This small island is not a part of the EU and is the world’s biggest salmon producer. As it is not a part of the ban on Russia, its exports are set to more than triple this year. The standoff has left the Faroe Islands, which accounts for about 4% of world output, in a unique position to provide Russian consumers with fresh salmon. The only other big salmon producing nation not affected by Putin’s food ban is Chile. But it’s too far from Russia to ship fresh salmon and Chilean producers will probably send frozen fish rather than pay for expensive air freight.