October 15, 2014

China resumes pork exports to Russia; first shipment of 800 tonnes on the way

After a 10-year break, China has resumed pork exports to Russia, the Russian consumer watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said on its website.

Its first shipment, 800 tonnes of meat loaded into 32 shipping containers, has left China and is on its way to Russia, Rosselkhoznadzor said.

This is the first time that Russia is buying meat from China since 2004 when Moscow banned all imports of Chinese meat for fear of foot and mouth disease (FMD).

China is the world's largest pork producer, producing 68 million tonnes in 2013 or about 50 half of the world's total pork output.

Moscow lifted the ban on meat imports from China, along with those from Brazil and Mongolia, after imposing a one year embargo on food imports from Western countries that have adopted sanctions against Russia's economy over the Ukraine crisis.

In August, Russian authorities gave two Chinese companies permission to sell pork on the Russian market. Nine more applications have been processed and are awaiting approval.

In early October Russia took note of food safety concerns, and said Chinese supplies will be locally overseen by Rosselkhoznadzor itself.

Russia is also expected to import more meat products from neighbouring Belarus and Kazakhstan.

But even before it announced its counter sanctions in August, Moscow had already banned live pigs and pork products coming from the EU since January after four isolated cases of African swine fever were discovered in Poland and Lithuania.

In 2013, Russia imported EUR1.4 billion (US$1.8 billion) worth of European pork.

The EU has filed a suit with the World Trade Organization over the swine flu ban, since it affected all 28 EU members and not just the few where the disease was found.