September 13, 2010

Russia's January-July poultry imports slide 63.1% on-year

In January-July 2010, Russia has imported 169,800 tonnes of poultry, 63.1% less than in January-July 2009, the federal customs service reported Friday (Sept 10).

All the poultry was imported from countries outside the Commonwealth of Independent States and was worth US$284.8 million.

The fall in imports is mostly due to the fact that Russia is not importing poultry from the US although an agreement has been reached to resume the imports. US poultry is treated with chlorine, which is against Russian health regulations.

Moreover, Russia imported US$56.1 million worth of poultry in August, which is only 51.6% of the imports on-year, when US$108.8 million worth was imported.

As compared with July 2010, the amount of imports is only 85.9% against that previous month, when US$65.3 million worth was imported, the federal customs service reported Friday (Sept 10).

The service did not give tonnages of the poultry imports, only their worth in dollars.

For August pork, Russia imported a total of US$155.5 million, 4.4% more than in August 2009, when US$148.9 million worth of pork was imported, and 12.7% less than in July this year, when US$178.2 million worth of pork was imported.

Beef imports in August amounted to US$170.3 million worth, 77.6% of the imports in August 2009, when US$219.5 million worth of beef was imported, and 80.2% of the imports in July this year, when US$212.5 million worth of beef was imported.