February 12, 2014

Head of Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor), Sergey Dankvert, recently announced that the ban on US pork imports may cease after considerations have been made over documents which the US will provide in mid-February.

"The examination of these materials is expected to end in late February to early March 2014, after which a final decision will be taken," according to an official statement.

Dave Warner, the director of communications for the National Pork Producers Council, expresses optimism to the latest development."We are glad Russia is looking to open its market to US exporters. Hopefully, we'll start shipping pork to Russia again," he said.

On the issue of ractopamine use, Warner noted that Codex Alimentarius, the global authority on food safety standards, had found the additive to be safe within a certain maximum residue limit.

"It (the ban on ractopamine-fed meat) is a non-scientific barrier to trade. It is not a food safety issue," he said. "Under WTO rules, refusing to accept a product because it was produced with something - in this case, ractopamine - that has been approved as safe by Codex would be a non-tariff barrier to trade."

Prior to the ban, the US exported about 98,830 tonnes of pork to Russia in 2012. The figure has since fallen by 78% after the suspension was imposed, according to Jim Herlihy, vice-president of communications for the US Meat Export Federation.

In January this year, the Interfax news agency reports that Russia plans to resume importation of some US meat, including turkey in mid-February and pork by March. There have also been months of speculation among US meat producers and market participants that Moscow could remove the ban before Russian ports freeze in the winter and its Black Sea resort city of Sochi hosting this month's Winter Olympics.

"We see a real possibility to resume turkey meat trade in February, most likely in the middle (of the month) or in the second half," said the head of Russia's veterinary and phytosanitary service. The organisation has previously planned to hold an inspection of several US turkey plants which claimed that they do not use ractopamine.

Meanwhile, partly driven by the news of possible resumption of US pork to Russian ports, hog futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) rose more than 1% on January 31, 2014. CME hog futures for April delivery closed 1.175 cents/pound higher, or 1.26%, at 94.800 cents.

The June contract settled at 104.825 cents, which is 1.475 cents higher, or 1.43%, after reaching its highest level at 104.975 cents in electronic trading.

However, US hog futures traders are also anticipating reduced pork production due to the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv), the impact of which may occur at its biggest this summer.