Russia, one of the biggest importers of Norwegian fish, partially banned imports starting from Wednesday, January 1, over violating Russian sanitary demands.

      The ban affects 485 Norwegian companies, or 90 percent of the country’s registered suppliers to Russia. According to Russian agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, those companies have a lax system of quality inspection.

      The restrictions were imposed on certain types of fish, including herring, cod, haddock and capelin. The ban does not affect Norwegian salmon and trout, which Russia imports in large quantities, but quality control of such products will be toughened. Russia was the biggest Norwegian buyer of Norwegian fish in terms of value in 2013, paying 691 million euro ($950 million) for 265,700 metric tons of fish.

      Russia also plans to impose a partial ban on imports of fish from Estonia starting from January 9.