Russia approves vet certificate for US poultry products

The Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and US veterinary service have coordinated a veterinary certificate for poultry-farming products from the United States.

Russian authorities characterised this step an important milestone in the developing of trade relations in poultry sector between two countries. According to the head of the Russian veterinary watchdog Sergei Dankvert with the appropriate system of certification the issue of resumption of deliveries of meat into Custom Union, and in particular turkey meat, could be resolved very quickly.

The certificate, approved following negotiations with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), applies to the export from the United States of newly hatched chicks, turkeys, ducklings, goslings, ostrich chicks, and the incubated eggs of these birds, the EEC website says. The document has been forwarded to the authorised agencies in the Customs Union and United States for signing.

During the negotiations at the EEC, issues of coordinating veterinary certificates differing in form from the unified veterinary certificates for controlled goods imported from third counts into the Customs Union were addressed.

US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service data shows Russia imported 266,995 tonnes of US poultry meat last year, 25.4% more than in 2011. All in all, according to Russia’s Federal Customs Service (FCS), Russia imported 527,000 tonnes of poultry meat for $839.6 million last year versus 418,800 tonnes for $592.5 million in 2011.