Russia to implement new poultry import regulations

 

 

Russian authorities have laid out new import regulations for poultry products, a move that may jeopardise market access for the US.

 

New technical regulations currently discussed by the Russian authorities could see the US lose the Russian market by 2010, and First Vice Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov has said the regulations will be adopted very soon. Zubkov has advised importers to look at the text in order to avoid ''unpleasant surprises'' in the future.

 

The new regulations will impose a ban on imports of poultry meat treated with chlorine of certain concentration, which would virtually pull the plugs on all US poultry imports.

 

This is not the first time the Russian authorities are thinking about the US poultry ban, but it is more of a political rather than economic move, said the head of the executive committee of the Russian Meat Association (NMA) Sergey Yushin.

 

Russia has a total chicken import quota of 952,000 tonnes, of which the US accounted for 750,000 tonnes.

 

The Russian poultry meat market is currently well-balanced, and a ban on US imports will create a mess, Yushin said.

 

But the Ministry of Agriculture has approved the current version of the regulation and it will not change, said the president of the Russian Poultry Union, Vladimir Fisinin.

 

Fisinin disagreed that a rejection will chlorine-treated poultry imports will damage the Russian market as domestic production is growing.

 

In addition, there are some US poultry companies that do not use chlorine treatment so they can be added to the list of authorised suppliers, he said.

 

The new rules may be adopted before the end of the year, Fisinin added.