December 31, 2010

Russia reduces import quota for frozen poultry meat

Russian authorities will cut by half import tariff rate quotas (TRQs) on frozen poultry meat for 2011.

Russia will permit imports of frozen poultry meat of up to 600,000 tonnes. The TRQ for 2010 was supposedly set at 780,000 tonnes, although exporters had trouble filling that quota because of Russia's changing import standards.

The announcement of the new TRQ decree comes at the end of a volatile year for traders doing business with Russia, where officials have followed a conscious policy of trying to substitute local production for imported product. They have stimulated domestic poultry production and erected barriers to imports. As a result, exporters like those in the US have found it difficult to ship product into Russia. Due to new non-tariff barriers, US firms were unable to export poultry into Russia for most of 2010.

"Government support for domestic poultry production in Russia has and continues to be primarily provided through methods of supply control," USDA agricultural attaches located in the embassy in Moscow, Russia, reported in September.

In September, USDA forecasted that Russia would import 500,000 tonnes of broiler meat in 2010 and 600,000 tonnes in 2011, plus 10,000 tonnes of turkey meat in each year. Given the reported cut in TRQs, these forecasts may be optimistic.