Australia cleared to export sheep, goats to Russia
MOSCOW. Feb 8 (Interfax) - Australia has been cleared to export breeding and commercial sheep and goats to Russia.
Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) and Australia's Agriculture and Water Resources Ministry have reached agreement on the veterinary certificate for shipments of those animals, Rosselkhoznadzor said in materials.
Dmitry Rylko, the general director of Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR), said sheep and goat farming are promising growth areas for the domestic livestock industry. "They have needed to engage in this for a long time," Rylko told Interfax.
Australia is the leader in development of sheep farming, he said. "Supply of animals from this country, especially breeding stock, will enable Russian producers to seriously and with good prospects engage in this area," he said.
The agreement is especially timely for Miratorg, which plans to implement a major lamb production project in Kursk region.
Miratorg plans to launch a pilot sheep farm in Kursk region's Fatezhsky district in the spring. Currently, 16 of 36 facilities at the farm are ready to receive animals. Equipment installation is underway at the remainder, which will be used to fatten lambs. The first 15,000 head will be delivered in March.
The breeding stock is expected to total 30,000 head. Investment in the project will total about 20 billion rubles.
UGMK-Agro LLC is intensively engaged in goat farming, with 1,435 head of breeding stock, and the Lukoz agri-holding in Mari El plans to increase its goat herd to 5,000 head from 1,500.