News

January 13, 2010

New Russian Import Rule Takes The Stuffing Out Of US Poultry Exports

By John Helmer in Moscow

The Russian Trade and Inspection Agency (Rospotrebnadzor) has initiated new chlorine limits for poultry processing, commencing this month. The effect will be to cut imports well below the quota levels announced last month, especially of US-produced chicken.The new Russian chlorine limit is 0.3 to 0.5 milligrams per litre, which is also the potable water standard. The same regulation exists for the European Union (EU) produced poultry, so imports from the EU will not be damaged, an RPN source told Agriprods.

Poultry imported from the US accounts for about 20 per cent of the Russian market. But most of it does not meet the new requirements, an industry source told Agriprods.com. Irina Ostryakova of the Cherkizovo Group, one of the largest Russian poultry producers, said the new standard will "seriously tell on the US imports. Russian domestic suppliers of poultry like Cherkizovo are constantly raising production volumes and we hope the new limit will not cause deficit of poultry on the Russian...