Saying he often fed salmon to his own children, Norway s prime minister expressed hopes on Wednesday Russia would resume imports of fresh Norwegian fish which Moscow banned due to worries about toxic metals. "I said that it (the ban) should be lifted," Jens Stoltenberg said after meeting Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov in Oslo. "After the discussions today I am more optimistic that it will be possible to find a quick solution."

Moscow has banned fresh salmon imports from Norway since Jan. 1, saying Russian scientists had found excessive levels of the toxic metals cadmium and lead in fish samples. Norway denies its farmed salmon, a major export earner, is unfit to eat. "I said, I myself eat fresh fish several times a week and give it to my children," Stoltenberg told reporters after talks with Fradkov. Stoltenberg has two children. "If there were cadmium, heavy metals and poisons there would not be so much fish eaten in Norway," he added.

Shares of Norwegian fish farming firms, including Pan Fish, Fjord Seafood and Cermaq, have suffered from the Russian ban. "Salmon prices are already high because of strong demand and will be even stronger if the Russians come back," said Tore Oestby, an analyst at Alfred Berg in Oslo.

Norway is the world s biggest exporter of farmed salmon and fish is the nation s third-biggest export behind oil and gas and aluminium. Last year, farmed salmon exports totalled 380,472 tonnes and Russia is a big and fast-growing market.

PRICES LEAP
Oestby said most analysts believed the Russians would, sooner or later, drop the ban. Export prices for salmon averaged 31.18 crowns (US$4.71) a kilo last week, up from about 25 crowns a year ago. The upcoming Easter holiday is expected to boost prices.

Stoltenberg noted that Norway had failed to find similar levels of heavy metals in salmon as the Russian scientists, even after tracking down salmon from the same consignments. Fradkov was served fresh Norwegian salmon during his two-day visit. "He liked the fish," Stoltenberg said.

He said that Russian inspectors would visit Norwegian fish farms shortly to see conditions for themselves. "We have got the Norwegian and Russian experts to sit down together. There is a good tone, there is a willingness to find a solution," he said.

Norwegian salmon farmers consider their produce a healthier alternative to other foods after scares about bird flu or mad cow disease. But they have been hampered by allegations ranging from toxic contaminants to overuse of anti-biotics. John Gummer, a former British Agriculture Minister, was widely criticised in 1990 for making a public show of feeding a hamburger to his four-year-old daughter at the height of the mad cow disease scare.
(Planet Ark, 30/03/2006)
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