Russia to Source Poultry and Meat from India

Russia will look at India apart from Turkey and Thailand to satisfy its poultry demand to tide over the shortage created by lack of supplies from the US and Brazil. The poultry imports from the US and Brazil are banned after detecting excessive usage of chlorine in their products.

Agriculture Minister of India Sharad Pawar is reported to have informed his Russian counterpart Yelena Skrynnik that his country had the capability to meet those demands as and when they emerged. While both ministers met at the sidelines of the BRIC Agriculture Ministerial Meet, Skrynnik told that though abundant stocks of poultry products were available at the moment, we would turn to India whenever a requirement sprang up.

A sudden demand for poultry in Russia has resulted due to the ban imposed on the US and Brazilian poultry as imports from these countries did not meet Russian poultry standards. According to sources, Russian sanitary standards are quite stringent than internationally accepted ones. The Russian poultry imports from the US at some point of time had even risen up to 80 percent in the past but the new sanitary requirements enforced since Jan 1 have completely stopped all imports from the US.

It should be recalled that India too faced several import bans including the existing one from Russia on its meat and poultry products. Nevertheless, a Russian expert group is expected to visit India shortly to review this long-standing export ban.

Pawar said India was exporting bovine meat and poultry products to 60 countries, including Europe, and there was “enormous potential” for exports to Russia as well. Likewise, Skrynnik apprised that Russia last year had imported 600,000 tonnes of poultry and one million tonnes of meat.

However, it is not known that the good news to the poultry and meat industry of India would turn sour to domestic consumers like that of Turkey as it has been feared in Turkey that the export approval for 500,000 tonnes of white meat to Russia could jack up domestic poultry prices significantly. Besides, the Turkish consumers are worried that the new orders from Russia would even cause severe poultry shortage in the country even though Turkish Agriculture Minister, Mehdi Eker argues that production for exports and domestic needs are met separately.

By Jose Roy