Russia: EU meat welcome, except from Poland
The threat of a Russian ban on imports of meat and live animals from the European Union (EU) seems to be gone.
Talks in Moscow, earlier this week between representatives of both sides, managed to clear some issues.
Allegations
Russia threatened to close its borders after allegations of EU meat and eggs containing too many diseases.
Both sides agreed on the EU sending its own research data to Russia as from March 31st. “The EU cannot provide everything in Russian, but English will do,” said Sergey Dankvert, head of the Russian veterinary service.
Poland
However, no solution was found for the current Russian ban on Polish meat, as the Russians feel meat from Poland has a bad quality.
The EU promised to sort out some Russian questions – representatives will meet again in a couple of months’ time.
Low prices
Meanwhile, as a consequence of this, Poland’s pig prices remain low. Pigmeat prices fell slightly this week, with some traders reporting prices even lower than official estimates.
Demand for pigmeat is still very low and the recent opening of the border with Ukraine has brought little relief to the market, due to high export duties which are still in place.
Initiative
The government initiative to purchase meat to bring down prices at the start of February has had little lasting effect, as only 10,000 tonnes of the promised 80,000 tonnes was actually purchased.
At present the department of agriculture is working not just on the reduction of the so-called ‘pig mountain’, but also on a possible long-term solution to the problem. This would come in the form of a pig purchase contract system.
Related website:
• European Union
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