Progress in poultry trade negotiations between the United States and Russia

Lead: Washington, June 12 (Reuters) - an agreement on new rules for poultry trade between the two countries is expected to be signed by the end of June through months of negotiations between Washington and Moscow, U.S government and industry officials said Tuesday In March, Russia banned poultry trade between the two countries, citing concerns about the use of antibiotics in the U.S poultry industry and the detection of Salmonella contamination in goods exported to Russia Poultry exports from the United States to Russia last year were worth $640 million The U.S said that Russia's approach is to protect its domestic poultry industry from international competition Although the ban was later partially lifted, the recovery of trade was slow Technicians from both countries have been working hard to solve the details of the trade, hoping that the volume of poultry trade this year will reach the same level as last year This week, Russian and American leaders attending the world food summit in Rome discussed poultry trade Russian officials also worked in Washington this week to restart the poultry trade The U.S Department of Agriculture said in a statement on Wednesday it was optimistic the two countries would agree on a new veterinary certificate to be used in future trade A working group from the United States is about to arrive in Moscow, where the Ministry of agriculture "predicts that the two sides will reach an agreement" The statement was issued after the meeting between agriculture minister Veneman and Russian agriculture minister gordyev in Rome Jima Sumner, President of the Georgia based national Egg Export Association, said that in many parts of Russia, including Moscow, the supply of imported chicken from the United States is already in short supply, and that the chicken is currently stored in refrigerators (rather than in the market) He added that three cargo ships carrying about 10000 tons of American chicken had recently arrived in St Petersburg But trade tensions between the two countries are clearly still there On Friday, Anatoly godakov, deputy trade representative of Russia, told reporters in Washington that "Russia is not very interested in buying American poultry The reason is that the Russian public has a negative view of American poultry Richard Lobb, spokesman for the national chicken Council, blamed Russian officials for the public's negative attitude towards American poultry "What they (Russian authorities) have done so far has greatly damaged the image of American poultry in the Russian public," he said in an interview on Tuesday He also said that as long as our products can return to the Russian market, the attitude of local consumers will be changed Agriculture minister Veneman told Reuters in Rome on Monday that she was concerned about the recent arrival of American poultry meat in Russia being sent directly to refrigerators rather than markets (author:) share to feed Weibo share to: