May 5, 2010

Russia urged to cut pork, poultry imports on domestic surplus

The production of pork and poultry in Russia is steadily increasing, prompting a need to reduce the current quotas on these imports, said Yevgeny Savchenko, governor of the Belgorod region, one of Russia's largest regions in pork production.

Last year the volume of poultry and pork production in Russia increased by 507 thousand tonnes in carcass weight, and the same figures are expected this year.

However the current high imports levels are likely to pose a risk of overstocking. At present, the volume of unsold pork and poultry in the country is estimated at 200 thousand tonnes, or 3% of the market.

Russian Poultry Union, Rosptitsesoyuz, is also calling for quotas' reduction which, according to its head, Galina Bobyleva, should be reduced by a further 100,000 tonnes - up to 608,000 tonnes a year.

The government has already promised to strengthen the monitoring situation in the domestic meat industry. However, experts believe that it's unlikely further quotas' reduction will be approved this year, taking into account the restrictions on US poultry imports and rising poultry prices in some remote regions of the country, such as Far East.