Source:  Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 12/21/09

Russia lowered its import quotas for U.S. pork and poultry imports in 2010, Reuters quoted a Russian industry source as saying on Friday.

According to the source, Russia set the 2010 import quota for U.S. poultry at 600,000 tons, down from 750,000 tons in 2009, and cut the U.S. pork quota to 57,500 tons for 2010 from 100,000 tons in 2009.

"This is consistent with the information we have received and with the draft decree that was released in October," U.S. Meat Export Federation spokesman Joe Schuele told Meatingplace. "So this announcement is not surprising, though we were hopeful of a more positive final result for the U.S. pork industry."

Schuele said the the beef quota is actually rising to 21,700 metric tons for 2010-2012 from the 18,500 metric ton quota of 2009.

Russia has been reducing U.S. poultry imports and, in recent weeks, banned pork imports from a number of U.S. pork plants, citing banned antibiotic use. 

Russia has also begun working towards self-sufficiency in meat production in recent years. The country plans to invest more than 93.6 billion rubles (about $3 billion) into developing its domestic pig breeding industry over the next two years, according to a report by Pig Progress quoting sources in the Russian Ministry of Agriculture.

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.