020546 U.S. Poultry Imports Resume to Russia

Moscow - U.S. poultry imports are beginning to trickle back into Russia more than a month after Russia lifted its ban on American chicken, Russia's Agriculture Ministry and U.S. poultry producers said.

At least 20 Russian companies have been granted licenses to import American poultry, said ministry spokesman Sergei Kuznetsov. He said some U.S. chicken is making its way into the country, but said he did not know how much.

Toby Moore, a spokesman for the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, said American poultry is getting into Russia in "dribs and drabs" but not anywhere near the pre-ban level. He said three ships laden with U.S. chicken had set sail for Russia recently.

Russia banned American poultry imports in March, citing concerns about sanitary conditions at U.S. plants. The ban was lifted a month later, after the United States promised to tighten export controls, but the agriculture ministry then cancelled all import permits and required Russian companies to apply for new ones.

Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev said Wednesday that he called his U.S. counterpart, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, to assure her that the delays in importing American poultry are a "technical problem."

"We aren't putting forward any special demands or barriers," he told reporters.

Several Russian cities are putting up their own barriers, however. Chelyabinsk, in the Ural Mountains, and Voronezh, in central Russia, have banned U.S. poultry imports, and the Moscow city government has removed American chicken from the menu in schools, hospitals and other municipal buildings, Russia's NTV television reported Wednesday.

Two shiploads of American poultry that had been held up in St. Petersburg for more than a month were finally unloaded, but must now be checked by veterinary inspectors before being allowed onto store shelves, said Kuznetsov, the ministry spokesman.

The ships, carrying 15,000 tons of American poultry, set sail before the ban went into effect and did not have the proper documents, Moore said by telephone from Atlanta. Russian officials were also alarmed that one of the shipments contained chicken from Virginia, which has recently had some cases of avian flu, he said.

The poultry dispute, along with U.S. tariffs on steel imports, have been a continuing irritant in U.S.- Russia trade relations, ahead of this week's summit between U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Chicken exports to Russia bring $600 million to $700 million a year to producers in 38 U.S. states.

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