Kazakhstan poultry farmers praises Russian transit ban on US poultry

After months of consideration, the Russian authorities have finally imposed a ban on imports and transit of US poultry. As expected, the measure will primarily hurt US poultry exports to Kazakhstan, which was flowing through Russian territory.

Russian veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said the restrictions were put in place due to a series of bird flu outbreaks registered in different parts of the US. Rosselkhoznadzor also emphasized it was not alone in banning US imports.

“The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety has suspended imports of poultry and poultry products, including eggs, from the United States due to outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in several American states. The decision was made after the US Department of Agriculture reported multiple cases of bird flu on commercial poultry farms in Minnesota, Iowa and North Carolina,” the Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement.

Kazakhstan poultry farmers, who have long urged the authorities to protect the domestic market from imports, have welcomed the move.

“We fully support the Russian Federation in restricting the import of poultry products from the United States,” Ruslan Sharipov, President of the Union of Poultry Farmers of Kazakhstan, said, who stressed that Kazakhstan “has a big problem with imported chicken”.

“Large volumes of poultry meat at dumping prices and American chicken legs enter our market,” Sharipov said.

However, the win is not absolute, as there are fears among market players that other importers, namely Russia, can replace the quantities that used to be delivered from the US. To prevent this from happening, the farmers call for lowering the tariff quotas on poultry imports to Kazakhstan.

“As an industry union, we have repeatedly raised the issue of reducing tariff quotas with the authorities,” Sharipov said.

Currently, the poultry import quota is set at 140,000 tonnes per year. Sharipov claimed it should be lowered to 50,000 tonnes to “protect socially vulnerable groups of the population.”

According to Sharipov, Kazakhstan farmers can’t compete with imports because the country lacks its own production of feed additives, veterinary pharmaceuticals and parent flocks.

In 2024, Kazakhstan will come close to fully meeting the domestic demand in poultry meat estimated to be close to 460,000 tonnes, Sharipov said.

The production is due to rise to 400,000 tonnes, against 330,000 tonnes in 2023. Several big projects under development should let the country beat its long-term goal and reach output of 744,000 tonnes by 2027, he added.

Tags: Russia, exports, Kazakhstan, US, Poultry, imports, ban, transit, outbreaks, bird flu