Russia cuts U.S. poultry, pork 2010 import quotas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia, a top market for U.S. meat, has cut its 2010 import quotas, meaning fewer pork and poultry imports will be allowed in at low duty rates compared to 2009, industry officials said on Friday.

The news comes as U.S. livestock farmers and meat exporters try to recover from the blow caused by high feed prices and weak global demand, and as Russia aims to become more self-sufficient in meat production.

U.S. industry officials and analysts said they were disappointed in the quota cuts, but hoped Russia might raise the volumes during the year.

Russia set its annual import quota for U.S. poultry at 600,000 tonnes, down from 750,000 tonnes in 2009. For pork, the quota was cut to 57,500 tonnes, down from 100,000 tonnes in 2009.

"Fifty-seven percent of year-ago is not encouraging news" for pork, said Ron Plain, a livestock economist at the University of Missouri. "But they have been known to change their mind."

U.S. exporters can ship pork to Russia outside the quota -- at higher tariff rates -- but that normally happens only when the economy is strong, said Joe Schuele, a spokesman for the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

Russia could decide to expand its quota later in the year if an outbreak of a deadly pig disease called African swine fever cuts into domestic production, said Dan Norcini, a hog trader based in Chicago.

"I think for now they want to knock the price of U.S. pork lower so that they can buy some more at reduced rates," Norcini said.

QUOTA CUT COMES ON TOP OF BANS

Aside from the quota cut, U.S. pork trade with Russia has been threatened by recent bans on pork from many U.S. plants after Russia said it found high levels of an antibiotic residue.

The bans "had an immediate and devastating impact on our industry" and are not based on acceptable scientific standards, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told Reuters, noting U.S. officials are trying to get the bans lifted.

It would be easier to solve trade irritants with Russia if Russia were a member of the World Trade Organization, Kirk said, but the accession process has stalled since June.

"We have made it plain as we could that this sort of behavior is wholly inconsistent with the conduct we would expect of a country saying, 'I want to be a part of a rules-based system,'" Kirk said in an interview.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation is not drawing a connection between the reduced quotas and the plant bans, Schuele said.

For beef, Russia increased its 2010 import quota to 21,700 tonnes for the United States, up from 18,500 tonnes in 2009.

POULTRY FACES FURTHER HITS IN 2011, 2012

The 2010 quota cut for poultry was in line with what the U.S. industry expected, said Jim Sumner, president of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council.

"We would like for it to be more, but we realize that Russia is continually increasing its domestic production and they look at imports as a way of balancing their supply," Sumner said.

U.S. chicken companies should be able to make up for the smaller shipments to Russia, said Paul Aho, economist at the consulting firm Poultry Perspective.

"I think they can find other markets to sell to, because the world economies are improving," he said.

But Russia also said it plans to further cut its quota for U.S. poultry in 2011 to 446,400 tonnes, and again in 2012 to 409,200 tonnes.

"We hope these numbers are preliminary and that they'll be adjusted upward," Sumner said, noting the industry had anticipated a 2011 quota of 550,000 tonnes.

POULTRY SECTOR EYES CHLORINE ISSUE

The poultry industry and top U.S. government officials have also stepped up efforts to work with Russian counterparts on concerns about antimicrobial chlorine rinses, routinely used in U.S. plants to kill pathogens that can cause food poisoning.

The European Union bans imports of poultry treated with the rinses. The United States has launched a legal complaint about the ban at the World Trade Organization.

Russia had threatened a year ago to cut off imports of U.S. poultry over the chlorine issue, but postponed its decision.

The issue remains unsettled, and the U.S. industry on Friday offered to conduct a joint study with Russian health officials to assure them the product is safe.

If not resolved by December 31, U.S. shipments could be disrupted, Sumner said, noting he was confident the two countries could find a way to move forward.

"Russia needs our product to balance their supply, and there is no other country capable of providing the volume of product," he said.

(Additional reporting by Bob Burgdorfer and Jerry Bieszk in Chicago and Christopher Doering and Doug Palmer in Washington; Editing by Christian Wiessner)