On December 13, China requires imported products to adopt new labeling regulations, requiring that the inner and outer packaging of products be labeled, including manufacturer information, cargo name, fishing vessel name, fishing area, enterprise registration number and export related address of the enterprise including fishing area, processing place, transportation ship and warehouse information. The regulation will be implemented in early 2022.

Alexey Buglak, President of the Russian cod Association (ADM), said that the new requirements are difficult to achieve and the implementation will lead to a significant increase in costs. To meet the new requirements, the annual cost of frozen cod is about $45 million, while the revenue of all Russian fish supplied to China is about $70 million.

Alexey Buglak believes that the new regulations will block the export of Russian cod to China.

Due to the epidemic, Russia's supply of seafood to China has been seriously limited. In the first nine months of 2021, the export volume of Russian frozen cod to China decreased sharply by 4.7 times to 115000 tons, with an export volume of US $131 million.

Relevant Russian departments are evaluating the new requirements put forward by China.