November 28, 2003

Russian Government Trade Body Backs 1.05M MT 2004 Poultry Import Quota

Russia's government trade protection commission has decided to recommend to the government that the poultry import quota for 2004 should be 1.05 million metric tons, according to the government press service.

The poultry import quota for 2005 is also recommended at 1.05 million tons. The import quota for the first quarter of 2006 is recommended at 306,000 tons.

On May 1 2003, Russia introduced a poultry import quota of 781,800 tons for the remainder of the year. Imports outside the quota were banned.

The annual quotas will be distributed between countries according to historical amounts of imports from these countries.

Out of the total import quota, 40% will be distributed in proportion to average annual imports from individual countries between 2000 and 2002. The remaining 60% will be distributed in proportion with imports in 2003.

According to this system, the U.S. will remain Russia's largest supplier of poultry. In the past few years the import of U.S. poultry to Russia reached some $600 million a year.