Russian spat hits Latvian sprat makers

By Laura Sheeter
BBC News, Riga, Latvia

Brivais Vilnis no longer trusts Russia

Several weeks after a Russian import ban on Latvian sprats was lifted the country's two biggest canned fish producers are left in limbo.

The Brivais Vilnis factory, which sits on the icy waters of the Baltic Sea near Latvia's border with Estonia, is the biggest of the two.

Some half of its production is canned sprats, and things should be going well for the firm, which has just won two gold medals at the ProdExpo food fair in Moscow.

But inside the factory only half of the production lines are working - and 200 of the firm's 700 employees have just been laid off.

The problem is that although the Russian government has formally lifted the ban it has failed to renew Brivais Vilnis' export licence.

As far as the company's director Arnold Babris is concerned, the ban remains in place.

Tight limits

The ban had initially been introduced in October, after Russian inspectors said that some batches of traditional smoked sprats in oil exceeded Russian limits for Benzopyrene.

Benzopyrene is a carcinogenic chemical produced in the smoking process.

Russia has particularly strict rules about it, allowing just 1 microgram per kilo in smoked fish, compared with the European Union's limit of 5 micrograms per kilo.

The director of Brivais Vilnis, Arnold Babris, is crying foul.

At the firm's weekly tasting session, where senior staff check the previous week's production, he describes the way Russia is dragging its heels as economic protectionism.

Sprats manufacturers are changing production methods to attract new customers In pictures

"Russia is trying to boost sprat production in Kaliningrad," he says, referring to the Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea.

"But Latvian fish occupies the top end of the market, so they are cutting us out.

"I know that the Russians have put their prices up since the ban, because there's a slight shortage of sprats in the shops. It's pure discrimination."

Mr Babris says they have never had a problem with Benzopyrene before, and that in any case the limit is so low it would be impossible for Russian producers to meet it either.

No comment

The Latvian government is favouring a softer approach to the problem.

At the Ministry of Agriculture, Deputy State Secretary Aivars Berzins says that he believes the ban to be a purely technical issue.

I really hope that Russia will reopen to us soon because I've been getting calls from unhappy Russian consumers Arnold Babris, director of Brivais Vilnis

"Maybe the industry sees an economic explanation for it, but I say that any EU member state should firstly respect the norms which the Russian Federation has set.

"What the ministry can do is talk within the European Union about the need to harmonise the norms between Russia and the EU."

It is a subject on which the Russians are similarly tight-lipped.

On a recent visit to Latvia to promote trade between the two countries, former Russian Prime Minister Yevgenny Primakov met sprat manufacturers.

But he would not comment publicly on the way imports from Latvia are being blocked, or its implications for trade between Latvia and Russia.

That seemingly united official front has left the firms frustrated, and convinced that, though Russians are loyal canned sprat consumers, Russia is no longer a customer to be relied upon.

New markets

Brivais Vilnis asked the Latvian government to give it temporary tax relief until it can get back on its feet, but they were refused.

So the firm is looking further afield for help.

They want to branch out and sell their sprats to China and Western Europe.

Riga Sprats remain popular in Russia

But in these markets they have found that fish in oil does not sell well.

So they have started to develop new products - using seaweed-based jelly instead.

Mr Babris says they hope to sell sprats in jelly as a diet food in Western Europe, where women are more worried about their weight than Latvians are.

"I really hope that Russia will reopen to us soon because I've been getting calls from unhappy Russian consumers," he says.

"But for us, the ideal would be to cut Russia down from 40% of our sales, to 20%."

The challenge is a big one: replacing a famous brand and a loyal customer base with a new product in an untested market.

Company managers say the firm is barely surviving, and the longer the Russians keep dragging their heels the harder it will get.

They are unsure whether Brivais Vilnis can afford to spend the money needed to market sprats in new countries.

But with no sign of the ban coming to an end, it seems for the Latvian sprat producers, turning away from their traditions may be the only way they can keep making the food for which they are famous.