Russia to stop importing US poultry

In case Avian flu will spread in the US, Russia will take all the necessary precautions when importing chicken meat from this country, said Vice Prime Minister of Agriculture Alexei Gordeev.

So far, several instances of bird flu have been reported on two farms in Delaware, thus forcing the state to close 75 farms for inspections. “Today, we have cancelled all of our orders from Delaware. This was not harsh. Many countries have cancelled all of their orders from all the States,” reported the Vice Prime Minister.

According to him, they are constantly dealing with their American partners. It is known that the type of virus found in birds in Delaware is not harmful and does not match the one found in Asian chickens.

The Vice Prime Minister has also stated that Russian Agriculture pays close attention at a current situation around Avian flu in Asia, specifically in China, where it borders with the Republic of Altai,” cites “Interfax” Gordeev’s words.

Experts say that the chicken epidemics may lead to a significant price increase as well as the overall deficit of imported poultry on the Russian market. Nowadays, prices on chicken meat have already risen by 30%.

According to the chairman of “Euroservice” Igor Koffman, after detecting Avian flu in South-East Asia, two major marketing outlets have opened their doors. First of it is Europe. 80% of bird meat Europeans import from Thailand. And second of all, it is Saudi Arabia, which used to buy poultry from Asia as well. Now the US attempts to target both of them. Prices for chicken meat in the US have risen from 70 cents for 1 kilo to 92 cents.

In the meantime, America has temporarily forgotten about Russia. Russian companies-importers found out that Americans had left very little meat supply for export to Russia. Specialists note that Russian companies have acquired just 80 000 tons of poultry from the US in January. In the meantime, Russian importers refrain from buying American poultry, since they are uncertain of the prices.

Source: NewsRu