Russia begins to issue import license for American Poultry

Lead: Washington, April 23 (Reuters) - Russia has granted import licenses for the first batch of US chicken purchases since March, when it banned US poultry imports because of health problems, a spokesman for the US Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday "They have issued two licenses for us chicken imports, and more are expected to be issued soon," Richard Boucher, a spokesman for the Ministry of agriculture, told reporters But Boucher, a spokesman for the Ministry of agriculture, and the official failed to provide Russia's meat purchases or shipping dates under these permits On March 10, due to health concerns, Russia stopped all purchases of chicken and Turkey from the United States, Russia's largest poultry Import Supplier, with an annual trade volume of 640 million US dollars After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to lift the ban on April 15, on the premise that the United States promised to strengthen its health licensing administration In the renewed poultry trade, Moscow said it would still ban imports of poultry from 14 U.S factories because it suspected Salmonella was in the meat shipped by those factories Moscow also said it would ban poultry imports from Maine, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina for fear of the virus American insiders believe that Russia's accusation of American poultry meat has brought a threat to consumers Industry representatives also argued that an import ban on states with the virus was an improper trade barrier They say bird flu will not cause harm to people and frozen meat of poultry will not pollute livestock Richard Lobb, spokesman for the national chicken Council, speaking on behalf of US chicken producers, said that Russia's approval of import licenses was a small step towards opening up the market But he added: "it will take a considerable price to get things back to work, and we hope that this is a positive signal that Russia will face up to its commitment to reopen its market." (author:) share to feed Weibo share to: