May 26, 2014

US poultry exports to Russia fall by 34% in Q1 2014

US frozen poultry exports to Russia have dropped by 34% in volume (at 47,200 tonnes) in the first quarter of 2014, Russian news agency, ITAR-TASS, reported.

The drop in deliveries was said to occur in February 2014.

In January 2014, imports of US chicken legs fell 8%, to 20,700 tonnes, against the corresponding period of 2013.

In February the volume of supplies dropped by 52% to 9,880 tonnes on-year comparison. Deliveries of poultry meat from the US in March 2014 have also decreased by 41% to 16,600 tonnes, as compared to 28,200 tonnes in March 2013.

In 2013, Russia imported 415,000 tonnes of frozen poultry meat, with 65% (266,000 tonnes) coming from the US. Smaller amounts came from Brazil, Ukraine, France and the Netherlands. The Russian Federal Customs Service assessed the total value of US poultry imports to Russia at US$ 337 million in 2013.

Several reasons have been offered as an explanation to the drop, including Russia's continual increase of its own poultry production, thus replacing imports. During Q1, Russia's production rose by 4.4% to 915,000 tonnes on-year comparison.

Moreover, the price of imported poultry is currently higher than Russian poultry by an on-average of 10%. In addition, there have been a number of veterinary disputes which have resulted in the halting of US poultry imports for three months from April.

Imports of chicken meat from the US also fell in Lithuania, China, Ghana and Kazakhstan in the first quarter of 2014, the report added.