COVID-19 closures of the main Chinese ports of Qingdao and Dalian have dramatically affected Russian seafood exports, forcing the country's exporters to look towards Africa for future sales.

Russia's fresh and frozen fish exports fell 35 percent in both volume and value in the first three months of this year to 305,900 metric tons, worth $510.9 million (€417.7 million), according to the country's federal customs service.

The country’s seafood exports to Nigeria through April reached 20,400 metric tons compared with just 9,600 metric tons exported to the African country over the entire last year.