Putin says Russia will ban imports from 19 U.S. chicken plants

By Janie Gabbett on 8/29/2008
of MeatingPlace.com

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia will ban imports from 19 U.S. chicken plants, which he did not name, according to media reports.

Putin told CNN that 19 U.S. chicken plants will be barred from exporting to Russian because they ignored warnings from Russian inspectors who examined poultry companies last year and that another 29 U.S. plants would receive warnings.

Russia's agriculture minister on Wednesday was quoted as saying that the country would slash imports of pork and poultry dramatically, a message that sent stocks of meat processing companies down. (See Russia considers cuts on poultry, pork import quotas on Meatingplace.com, August 28, 2008.)

Both the U.S. poultry and pork industries have been aided by strong exports to a number of markets, including Russia, this year.

Putin said the move had nothing to do with tension over the recent war in Georgia, but U.S. industry observers may see it differently.

"There has been an escalation of rhetoric from Russia regarding US chicken and pork exports at least in part reflecting Russia's retaliation for the US's response to the conflict between Russia and Georgia," BMO Capital Markets Analyst Kenneth Zaslow wrote in a note to investors after the agricultural minister's warning about cutting quotas.

Zaslow expects U.S. pork and poultry exports to Russia to decline over the next six months, but sees the situation as temporary, since Russia does not yet have the production capacity to replace the import volumes.