A US agricultural delegation arrived in Moscow on Monday (1 March) to resume talks on poultry imports, which have been suspended since the beginning of the year, according to Moscow Times.

The Federal Consumer Protection Service was to resume talks with the delegation and work toward a resumption of imports, service head Gennady Onishchenko said.

"We have carried out comparative analysis of the disinfectants used in the US and Russia, and we came to a conclusion that we have a wide field to move forward [in the forthcoming negotiations]," he told Interfax.

Agriculture Minister, Yelena Skrynnik, said last month that US poultry suppliers might revamp their poultry processing methods to meet Russian standards. And First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said that Russia would consider giving US suppliers a transition period to meet the standards if they asked for one.

Imports were frozen at the beginning of the year after long-planned regulations went into effect that forbid the import of poultry treated with chlorine – a production method used by many US producers. The Federal Consumer Protection Service signed the measure in June 2008 but later pushed back the measure's starting date to 1 January 2010.

The United States supplied 750,000 metric tons of poultry last year – or 20 per cent of the market – and was scheduled to supply an additional 600,000 metric tons in 2010.

Poultry producers hoped for a quick resolution to the 'chlorine problem', James Sumner, president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council told Interfax a month ago. He said suppliers were satisfied with the fact that the US government reacted promptly to Mr Onishchenko's request and suggested ways to resolve the situation.

Russian market players were also interested in settling the dispute in order to prevent further supply disruptions, he said, reports Moscow Times.