China's decision to halt imports of Russian fish, apparently due to covid concerns, could devastate the Russian fishing industry. Over 60% of Russian fish exports go to China, but a few weeks ago Chinese ports stopped accepting Russian fish. /1

Russia's main fish export to China is pollack from the Russian Far Eastern seas. This is high-value fish similar to the North Atlantic cod. Without China, there is no alternative market Russian fishing companies could profitably sell it to. /2

Chinese officials explain the halt of imports of Russian fish by covid concerns, citing a few cases when the virus was allegedly detected on the outer packaging of pollack batches from Russian ships. /3

However, the covid alert explanation for the halt of the imports of Russian pollack seems somewhat fishy since China has not stopped accepting some other kinds of seafood, such as wild crabs and shrimps, from Russia. /4

My contact who works in the Russian fisihing industry suspects that China's embargo on the Russian pollack imports may be due to the fact that China may no longer need the Russian fish in such quantities. /5

China is the world's main center for pollack processing. But, with the collapse of the global hospitality and travel industry, the demand for pollack has decreased. Chinese processing factories just do not need Russian fish any more. /6

Another possible explanation could be that China uses its halt of the Russian pollack imports as a bargaining lever to get concessions from the Russian government in some other trade/economic areas. /7

All of these versions -- Chinese covid-related concerns, the decrease in demand for pollack, and a bargaining tool -- could be valid at the same time. /8