Russia gave 12 South African firms rights to supply canned and frozen fish from last Wednesday, according to a notice on the Russian veterinary and phytosanitary service’s website.

Moscow banned most Western food imports, worth $9bn a year, in August in response to the US’s and European Union’s sanctions over Russia’s role in Ukraine.

“Since the late 1990s, this is the first time South African fish will be exported to Russia on a commercial basis,” Felix Ratheb, CE of the Cape Town-based Sea Harvest, told Reuters.

Mr Ratheb said its first exports to Russia were expected in early 2015 and would begin at about 500-metric-tonnes a year, worth between R25m-R40m.

Available: http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/trade/2014/11/11/sanctions-hit-russia-resumes-south-african-seafood-imports