January 26, 2011

Russia imposes interim ban on German poultry imports

Russia's Rosselkhoznadzor has imposed temporary ban on German poultry imports due to feed dioxin contamination, deputy head Nikolai Vlasov said Tuesday (Jan 25).

"This ban is not for long. According to our calculations, restrictions on chicken supplies could be cancelled after February 10-15. Given the fact that feed can be stored at companies and farms for some time, our calculations show that there will be no danger in the middle of February," Vlasov said, adding that the broiler feeding cycle was 36-42 days.

Russia has introduced interim restrictions on imports of pork, slaughter and fattening pigs from Germany, as it discovered dioxin in poultry and pig feed from January 24. The restrictions do not cover pork checked by Germany's state laboratory.

Vlasov said that the temporary restrictions on pork imports would last longer as the cycle of fattening pigs was about 150 days. He said the ban could be lifted at the end of March.

Moreover, Russia has produced 2.7 million tonnes of poultry in 2010, an increase of 14.7% compared with 2009, the federal statistics service reported Tuesday (Jan 25).

The Russian government is making efforts to reduce the country's dependence on poultry imports, and a considerable amount of private investment is being ploughed into the poultry industry.