Washington - The United States and Russia will finalize a food aid pact soon that will provide Russia with 3.1 million tonnes of U.S. food, a top U.S. Agriculture Department official said Tuesday.
“We've been working on the language for the food assistance agreements,” General Sales Manager Chris Goldthwait said. “That work has been coming along well and I expect that those agreements will be complete probably within another few days' time.”
The department could start to ship the food as early as next month, Goldthwait said.
“Our intention is to begin tendering as soon as the agreements are actually signed, which could be sometime in the month of December, which means that we might even actually see liftings sometime in December or in very early January,” he told reporters after attending a USDA event.
Goldthwait said USDA is still working with Russia to create a package to facilitate U.S. poultry exports to the struggling country. The pact could include direct food donations or commercial methods to boost sales, he said.
“We haven't ruled out the possibility of adding it (poultry)” to the food aid package, he said.
A decision on poultry could be made soon, Goldthwait said. Russia had been the top export market for U.S. poultry until Moscow effectively devalued the rouble in August.
The United States and Russia reached an agreement this month to help feed the Russian people during the winter while reducing huge U.S. grain and meat supplies that have pressured U.S. commodity prices.
Under the pact, the United States will donate 1.5 million tonnes of U.S. wheat and will provide low-interest, long-term loans to provide for the sale of 500,000 tonnes of U.S. corn, 300,000 tonnes of soybean meal, 200,000 tonnes of soybeans, 200,000 tonnes of wheat and 100,000 tonnes of rice.
The United States will also provide loans for 120,000 tonnes of beef, 50,000 tonnes of pork and 30,000 tonnes of nonfat dry milk. Another 100,000 tonnes of food will be donated to private voluntary organizations in Russia.
The cost of the assistance package includes $625 million for food and $260 million for transportation.
Russia imported one-third of its food supplies last year, but shipments were abruptly halted after the Russian rouble was devalued in August. Panicked Russians soon cleared the grocery store shelves in Moscow.
A drought dried up much of Russia's crops this year, making for the worst harvest since the 1950s.
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