Andrey Lubensky: Commercial war is possible between Ukraine and USA

Ukraine's response to the introduction of the economic sanctions on the part of the United States of America has raised the instant reaction across the ocean. The Ukrainian premier Anatoly Kinakh announced about a possible cancellation of the American food stuffs deliveries to Ukraine from February 15. Kinakh referred to the requirements of the veterinary service, but the Americans did not believe in such a simple explanation, of course.

The president of the US Poultry and Egg Export Council , Jim Sumner said in the interview to Interfax news agency, that the USA considered Ukraine’s ban on the import of the American poultry as illegitimate: “The reasons, on which the Ukrainian veterinary service banned the import of poultry are not grounded, it is an illegal commercial barrier, which may lead to the adequate counter-measures,” – Sumner stated.

The Ukrainian veterinary services explained its decision with the fact that the Americans were using antibiotics and stimulants, when growing chickens, and those substances may have a negative influence on the health of the consumers. But then there is another question coming up – why didn’t they ban the import of the American poultry before?

Sumner said, that the regular research (7.5 thousand of veterinary inspectors check the quality of the produced poultry in the States) had not confirmed the presence of antibiotics or stimulants in the poultry. Sumner added, the use of the hormones in the poultry production had been prohibited long ago. Thus, the fear of the Ukrainian vets is far-fetched, and the American producers would like to know the real reason, why it happened. Sumner said, that the American embassy in Kiev was currently conducting negotiations with the veterinary service of Ukraine, but he added, it was hard to say the outcome of the talks would be positive.

Jim Sumner doubts that the Ukrainian local poultry production will be sufficient to meet the demands of the country: “If Ukraine keeps the US poultry import ban, then the prices on the poultry will raise so high that the average-income-population will not be able to buy it.”

ForUm informed that Ukraine imported 72 thousand tons of meat in 2001, and 69 thousand tons of that meat was poultry. The share of the US poultry import reached the level of 90%.

Andrey Lubensky PRAVDA.Ru Kiev Ukraine

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/01/24/35989.html