EU opens market for Armenian fish industry

The EU has opened its market for Armenian fish industry, and exporters will be able to start shipping high-quality fish and caviar starting March 16.

The exporters of scaly fish, caviar and roe, will have to be registered in the EU’s TRACES system, an Armenian official said at a press conference on Thursday.

Tigran Petrosyan, Deputy Head of the Food Safety Inspection Agency, highlighted the importance of the development. “This is highly important for our country and our businesses. For the first time, Armenia gets the opportunity to export fish and fish products to the EU. We’ve even surpassed our neighboring countries. We have neighbors who received license to export just one fish product to the EU, while we received permission for all types of products in the fish industry,” Petrosyan said.

Armenian fish products will reach Europe in a few hours by air, and within 4-5 days by land.

Tigran Alexanyan, the head of the department of livestock breeding at the economy ministry, told reporters that the fish industry businesses have been waiting for this moment for a long time. 

“Our businesses worked very hard to improve the quality of their products during the years. This industry has been developing significantly in the past few years in Armenia. Many businesses are introducing new technologies in order to rationally use water resources and produce high-quality fish products,” he said.

The economy ministry offers support projects to companies willing to install modern technologies and equipment.

27 thousand tons of industrial fish was produced in Armenia in 2024, 5% more compared to 2023. 

15 thousand tons of last year’s production was exported, according to Gor Grigoryan, the director of the union of fish producers. 

He said that the Armenian fish industry has been exporting to Russia, the U.S. and the UAE. “These countries also have standards, which I can’t say are behind EU standards. But the EU market is a new market for us, and a good opportunity,” he said, adding that they must study the market, its demand and competition, find partners and solve the logistic issues.

The industry experts are confident that fish exports to the EU will begin this year.