OREANDA-NEWS. Belarus has awarded 11 companies the right to import ready-made or preserved fish, sturgeon caviar and its substitutes produced from fish caviar in 2013, thus implementing the sole right of the state to import certain kinds of fish and fish products.

The list includes OJSC Belryba (Minsk), Santa-Bremor (Brest), OJSC Belbakaleya (Minsk), Minsk Cold Storage Facility, Belkooptorg, Brest Region’s Belbakaleya, Belkooptvneshtorg (Minsk), OJSC Bakaleya Mogilev, MacDonald’s Restaurants FE (Minsk), OJSC Restoratsia (Minsk), PTC Braslav (Vitebsk Region).

As previously reported, Belarus excluded sea fish from the list of products that may be imported exclusively by the state as of July 1, 2010. Subsequently, freshwater fish and seafood were removed from the list of products that may be imported exclusively by the state, following President Alexander Lukashenko’s ordinance #33 of January 16, 2013. Hence, the state’s exclusive right now applies solely to processed fish products.

Back in 2012 Belarus awarded 39 companies the right to import and process freshwater fish and seafood in 2011, whereas in 2011, there were 25 importers.