EU conducts Ukrainian poultry inspections

The representatives of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Consumers have recently conducted poultry inspections at Ukrainian enterprises.

Ivan Bisiuk, chairman of the State Veterinary Committee, said that Ukrainian poultry enterprises have tackled almost all problems marked by the European inspectors.

Bisiuk noted that the inspection is a long procedure and may take up to 11 months, but he expressed his hope that the Ukrainian enterprises would obtain permit to export their products to the EU by the end of 2010.

Earlier, meat imports in Ukraine have reportedly slumped to 58,000 tonnes for the first quarter of 2010; 40% less against the same period of the previous year.

The reduction of import is caused by development of the national cattle-breeding, strengthening of veterinary control, as well as by reduction of solvency of Ukrainian consumers. At the same time, the main part of imports falls on poultry meat (24,000 tonnes) and pork (19,000 tonnes). According to head of the Agribusiness group of experts Volodymyr Lapa, reduction of import can become a trend for the whole 2010 - as of early April, pig livestock grew by 14% against on-year, poultry by over 5%, and realization of meat for slaughter exceeded the previous year indexes by 8%.