Lift on US poultry ban unlikely
poultry imports by an April 10 deadline because the United States
is unlikely to provide enough data by that time, Interfax
reported last Friday.
The Russian government is sceptical about lifting a ban on US poultry imports by the 10 April deadline because the United States is unlikely to provide enough data by that time, Interfax reported last Friday.
"The amount of information received from the American side does not give sufficient optimism for taking a decision (to lift the ban)," the news agency quoted First Deputy Agriculture Minister Sergei Dankvert as saying. Agriculture ministry officials were unavailable for comment.
Russia and the US agreed on 31 March that Russia would lift the ban it had imposed on US poultry imports by 10 April, subject to certain conditions. The US agreed to a temporary ban on exports to Russia from 14 poultry plants pending inspection of sanitary conditions, and pledged to provide guarantees against counterfeit veterinary certificates.
A group of Russian veterinarians has been in the United States since Monday to inspect US poultry plants, ports and warehouses and to examine data on poultry meat safety as part of the deal.
But Dankvert said so far the group had only received information on the process of issuing veterinary certificates. He said that although the US had agreed to provide all the requested data before 10 April, Russian veterinarians wanted to obtain it well in advance of that date to be able to verify the information. He added that the inspectors will return to Russia only after they obtain answers to all questions.
With US$640 million worth of poultry shipped to Russia last year, Russia is the largest market for US poultry.
Russia imposed the ban on 10 March after citing concerns over salmonella contamination in some recent shipments and lax safety certifications in the United States. US officials defended the safety of their products, and some have speculated that Russia was imposing the ban to protect domestic poultry producers.
