Russia is planning to continue to allow the importation of most Chilean fishery and aquaculture products following meetings in St. Petersburg between officials from both countries, however, seven salmon aquaculture companies will still face a ban as of 29 October.
Chile’s National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) said negotiations between National Director Soledad Tapia Almonacid and Chilean Ambassador to Russia Eduardo Escobar and Russian officials with the country’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision (Rosselkhoznadzor) and Deputy Director Konstantin Savenkov addressed issues raised by the agency in September. Rosselkhoznadzor alerted Chile and Sernapesca that it wanted more measures taken to ensure tighter controls on phytosanitary regulations of the country’s seafood exports, otherwise it would be “forced to introduce restrictive measures.”
Chile’s Salmon Council got involved in the discussions soon after, and managed to avoid heavy restrictions. According to Sernpesca, so far in 2025 Chile has sent 46,320 metric tons of seafood products to Russia worth over USD 285 million (EUR 245 million), making it a significant market for the country’s products.
Now, Sernapesca reports those restrictions will largely be avoided, barring a few exceptions.
"We had a very positive meeting with the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance of the Russian Federation, where we were able to discuss the results of the audits conducted as part of the certification process by the competent Russian authority,” Almonacid said in a release. “They ruled out closing the market and expressed their willingness to collaborate so that the findings could be corrected in the short term, recognizing the Service as a technical entity for these matters.”
Sernapesca also said the two nations have agreed to cooperate on guidelines for a number of issues, including the prevention of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
As a result of the finding, 34 companies are able to continue exporting seafood products to Russia without interruption. However, according to Sernapesca, inspections by Rosselkhoznadzor resulted in seven companies having their health certification temporarily suspended starting on 29 October.
Those companies, according to the Rosselkhoznadzor register of third-country enterprises, are Salmones Blumar, Cermaq Chile, Exportadora Los Fiordos, Crustaceos Sur, Salmones Camanchaca, Pesquera Torres Del Paine, and Alvarez y Alvarez.
Russia first began placing restrictions on a series of Chilean salmon-processing plants in early 2020, claiming it detected the presence of antibiotics in farmed salmon. The country later began to lift those import restrictions later on that same year. Two of the four companies that had those restrictions removed – Pesquera Torres Del Paine, and Alvarez y Alvarez – were named again in the latest suspension.
