December 3, 2007

Russia reopens meat trading with Brazil

Russia has restarted meat imports from virtually all Brazilian states on Sunday, December 1, effectively lifting a ban imposed due to the detection of foot and mouth disease, according to the country's agricultural watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor.

Rosselkhoznadzor said all temporary restrictions are lifted on Brazilian states of Para, Amazon, Mato Grosso do Sul, Parana, Minas Gerais, Santa Katerina, Groias and San Paulo. The decision was made on the basis of the recommendations of the International Epizootic Bureau (IEB) and consideration that it has been a year since the last report of foot and mouth disease in Brazilian livestock.

The agency has informed its Brazilian counterparts that exports from these states will only be renewed from meat and poultry processing plants, as well as holding companies, which have been reassessed by Russian specialists for product export to Russia and its sale there.

Rosselkhoznadzor will consider the programme and schedule for the reassessment of enterprises in the open states, upon the approval of its inspection plan for foreign states n 2008.

A representative from the agency said that the decision substantially expands the zone of cattle deliveries for Brazilian meat processing enterprises. If the livestock of the mentioned states could not previously be sent for slaughter and processing in other states, then now, as of December 1, it will be possible, he said. Meat plants in the open states will be linked to slaughter and processing operations as Russian specialists see fit, he added.

Brazil is one of Russia's major meat suppliers. The Brazilian National Confederation of Agriculture estimates that annual exports to Russia total around US$1.5 billion. Russia's Institute for Agricultural Market Studies says that Russia imported 254,000 tonnes of beef, or 40 percent of total beef imports, from Brazil in 2006. Pork imports totalled 229,000 tonnes (over 37 percent) and poultry imports were 169,000 tonnes (15 percent).