June 29, 2007

UK hoping to cater to Russia's new appetite for beef

Although it was only last May that exports of UK beef and live cattle resumed after ten long years, the UK, which has exported GBP 12 million worth of beef since then, is now looking at a new market- Russia. 

According to Kim Haywood, policy adviser of the National Beef Association, there is a huge potential in Russia for UK breeding cattle, possibly for up to 200,000 head.

The UK is currently working with Russia to work out a standardised form of health certificates.

Haywood said there was intense Russian enthusiasm for specialist UK livestock and semen. Although the interest in beef cattle tended to be general rather than specific, Russians were heavily keen on Simmental, Hereford and Angus cattle, she said.

Russia is rebuilding its national cattle herd and would pay a premium well above prices currently offered by EU buyers, she declared.

As the Russian economy surges ahead, the affluent population has developed an appetite for beef, which is short in supply.

Russia's beef imports have grown 30 percent over the past 3 years and would soon be the second largest importer of beef in the world, Haywood noted.

While global beef production is growing 4 percent a year, demand would be growing at a faster rate, especially in Asia, Haywood added. This meant rising prices for British beef. 

Haywood said there are hopes that a cattle semen certificate would be agreed upon by the end of this year. Although the EU health certificate requires the farm of origin never to have had a case of BSE, authorities in Moscow may be persuaded that a set date for BSE-freedom would be acceptable.