991030 Meat Likely Topic For US-Russia Aid TalksOctober 9, 1999Washington - Discussions over a new round of U.S. food aid to Russia may well touch on the question whether to include meat in the package, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said. Russia asked for five million tonnes of food aid, virtually all grain and oilseeds. Moscow's list did not include meat, Glickman told the National Chicken Council, but that “does not necessarily mean that's how it's going to turn out.” Afterward, Glickman said it was too early to prejudge the quantities or terms of a new food aid plan. The current package, worth about $1 billion, included 120,000 tonnes of beef, 50,000 tonnes of pork and 50,000 tonnes of poultry. “If there is strong congressional interest, I cannot imagine the issue (of meat) will not be raised,” he told reporters. Russia was the No 1 market for U.S. poultry exports but sales volume plunged after devaluation of the rouble in 1998. Two dozen senators, including the chairmen of the Agriculture and Foreign Relations committee, signed a letter to Glickman earlier this week arguing for pork to be included in any future Russian food aid. “It seems certain that the economic conditions that made pork a reasonable choice for food aid in FY1999 -- i.e., low protein production and availability in Russia and excess supply of pork in the United States -- will persist in FY2000,” said the letter to Glickman. “We hope you share our perspective that continuing to include pork and pork products in that program is justified.” The senators asked Glickman to consider pork as part of aid packages for other nations where protein output and availability have declined in recent years.
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