September 22, 2009
Russia still relies on EU meat imports
Russia was still depending much on meat imports from EU countries, and any restrictions might affect the prices, Russian analysts said.
During the financial crisis, Russia's government attempted to reduce the volume of meat imports from the EU due to its high cost, while at the same time expanding its meat trade relations with Nicaragua, Venezuela and Brazil.
However, the Latin American meat still cannot replace the EU meat exports to Russia.
Currently the EU remains one of the largest meat exporters to Russia, with export volumes of more than 24 million tonnes of meat per year, while the local producers cannot meet the domestic demand, supplying no more than 5.5 million tonnes per year.
Most of the EU meat fully meets the quality standards of Russia, but some Russian veterinary officials are still concerned with the quality of Romanian and Bulgarian meat due to the spread of dangerous diseases in the countries a few years ago.
