Expert comments on meat imports

Quotas for beef and pork imports suggested by the Russian government are too large, Arkady Zlochevsky, the head of the Russian grain union and the former head of the Agriculture Ministry's department for regulating food markets, said in an interview with RosBusinessConsulting. As reported earlier, the government commission on antidumping measures on December 30 approved the introduction of quotas on beef and pork imports totaling 420,000 and 450,000 tons respectively.

Zlochevsky specified that the current amount of beef imports was about 400,000 tons, while pork imports were coming mainly from the European Union totaling more than 360,000 tons annually. So, in fact the task on limiting these imports will not be fulfilled.

The introduction of quotas on meat imports was a retaliatory measure to the decision of the European Union to impose restrictions on grain imports as of January 1, 2003.