Wisconsin Ag Connection - National/World News - U.S., Russia Resume Poultry Meat Trade Talks

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U.S., Russia Resume Poultry Meat Trade Talks
USAgNet - 03/02/2010

A U.S. agricultural delegation arrived in Moscow on Monday to resume talks on poultry imports, which have been suspended since the beginning of the year. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. producers. The Federal Consumer Protection Service signed the measure in June 2008 but later pushed back the measure's starting date to January 1, 2010.

The United States supplied 750,000 metric tons of poultry last year, or 20 percent 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 U.S. government reacted promptly to Mr Onishchenko's request and suggested ways to resolve the situation.