Russia Cancels Import Permits

Russia revoked all 2006 import permits for poultry and poultry products effective April 27, due to continued cases of nonobservance of veterinary legislation, according to the Russian Agriculture Ministry’s press service. Product departing seaports before May 8 will be admitted.

Russia expressed a growing frustration with fraudulent importing procedures. The Federal Service for the Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision (Rosselkhoznador) complained of shipments off-loaded without import licenses, inconsistency between the documentation and the consignments, attempts to import poultry meat under counterfeit permits, and nonobservance of the conditions for separate storage of different kinds of raw meat in a single enterprise.

The Russian Minister of Agriculture said the renewal of old permits will not take more than two weeks and new certificates will be issued free of charge. Rosselkhoznador will institute a simplified procedure to issue new permits.

Russia's Domestic Poultry Industry Woes

Late 2005 and early 2006 outbreaks of avian influenza in a number of Russia's southern regions led to a significant drop in demand for poultry meat in the infected areas. According to some analysts, poultry consumption patterns did not change significantly in the big cities located far away from the infected regions. Other analysts claim that on average, demand for poultry in Russia has decreased by 10 - 15% during the last three months alone. A number of Russian poultry plant managers announced that they began lowering offer prices by 10% in late January 2006 due to the decline in poultry consumption. Prompted by losses, in March the Russian Poultry Farmers Union requested a cut in import quotas for 2006 by at least 30%.

The Russian Poultry Union sponsored a public rally against poultry meat imports on April 19 in Moscow. The rally drew an audience of about 300, many of them employees of poultry growout and processing operations who were bused in the event. Speakers complaints included: the inaction on the part of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT) will cause many Russians to lose jobs; there are large stocks of unsold domestic poultry meat at all poultry plants in Russia; U.S. and European food safety authorities care mostly about the cleanliness of work spaces at poultry processing facilities and not the wholesomeness of the product itself.

The group complained that illegal imports of chicken through the Special Economic Zone in Kalingrad and dumping by importers is leading to overstocking of unsold products and a reduction in wholesale prices by 25%.

Russia’s Federal Customs Service Hikes Minimal Import Prices

The Russian Federal Customs Service recently announced an increase in the minimal declared customs value on meats. The minimum price of beef will increase 200%, chilled pork carcasses 140%, and frozen pork 100%. Changes for poultry meat range from slightly lower to sharply higher.

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Source: USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service - 2nd May 2006