August 3, 2007

Russia to slash this year's frozen beef quota in EU

Russia and the European Union have agreed to cut the EU's frozen beef import quotas this year by up to 270,000 tonnes or 77.6 percent in favour of other countries for safety reasons, Russia's Economy Ministry said on Thursday (August 2).

In a statement, the ministry said the agreement had been reached after animal and plant health watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor imposed bans on beef imports from some EU countries.

Russia has already banned meat imports from 35 EU exporters after discovery of tainted shipments.

Russia regulates red and poultry meat imports with annual tariff quotas and EU this year has the largest share with 347,600 tonnes from the total 440,000 tonnes of frozen beef quota.

Beef within the quota may be imported at a discount tariff of 15 percent of the customs value, but no less than 0.15 euros (US$0.205) per kilogramme. Beef imports above the quota are liable to a tariff of 30 percent, but no less than 0.3 euros per kg.

Moscow has set quota levels from 2005 to 2009 on the basis of import volumes in the previous three years.

Meat processors have complained about the EU quota, which is not filled but complicates imports from countries, where beef is cheaper like Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, of which only Paraguay has a quota of 3,000 tonnes.

Quota volumes have been fixed until 2009 by international agreements. But if a ban is imposed on imports from certain countries due to safety reasons, traders have the right to order meat from other countries within the total quota limits.

In previous years importers have used veterinary bans on EU poultry imports to reallocate quotas to Brazil, which does not have a separate quota.