Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 8/5/10

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Wednesday that officials in Washington are losing their patience with Russia, which claimed over the weekend there are new technical issues with the poultry trade agreement that recently went into effect.

“To tell you we’re frustrated would be an understatement,” he told reporters following a Senate Ag Committee hearing, according to a transcript provided by the USTR office. “We thought we had an agreement. We had a protocol, we signed it and then literally now at the last minute there’s a new wrinkle.”

Russian officials didn’t specify in local media reports over the weekend what the issues were, but Kirk indicated that they are contemplating a new round of U.S. plant inspections.

“The notion of having to come in and inspect plants we think will just unnecessarily and unreasonably delay the process, and it’s not compliant with what we’ve agreed to,” he said.

Meanwhile, Stephens Inc. analyst Farha Aslam wrote in a note to investors that Russia is saying they have to check with Kazakhstan and Belarus to ensure the U.S.-Russian chicken pact comply with the three countries’ Customs Union agreement. “Russia is questioning whether some of the sanitary compounds to be used in place of chlorine are compliant when it agreed to them weeks ago,” she wrote.

In June, Russia agreed to lift a six-month ban on imports of chicken treated with chlorine, which effectively eliminated U.S. poultry exports to that country. In mid-July the two governments agreed to an export protocol requiring U.S. companies to use certain pathogen-reduction treatments instead of chlorine.

In the past two weeks, Russia has authorized nearly 70 plants as eligible exporters, including facilities owned by Pilgrim’s Pride, which said it sold out its entire August volume from those plants.

Kirk said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Ambassador Islam Siddiqui are working with Russian officials to find a resolution “because we literally have poultry that meets the protocol…that is packed and ready to go.”

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