Russian farmers, other suppliers seen filling gap left by EU pork
MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) - The supplies of pork that will dry up because Russia has stopped accepting this product from the European Union can be covered by domestic producers and suppliers from other countries, the head of the executive committee of the National Meat Association, Sergei Yushin believes.
"Although the EU accounts for about 60% of pork supplies, part of the volumes dropping out will be replaced by growing Russian production," Yushin told Interfax.
He said importers can also switch to shipments from Canada, Brazil, Chile or Belarus. "These countries could potentially virtually completely cover most of the lost volumes on the condition that they strictly observe our veterinary requirements," Yushin said.
However, he expects wholesale pork prices to rise. "But I want to stress that today they are 15-25% lower than 18 months ago. And in issues of food and biological security, the economic factor should be considered last of all," Yushin said.
He said Russian companies need to establish more intensive processing of carcasses in order to meet future demand for raw material if trade is not restored. In addition, if the ban lasts a long time demand will increase for poultry meat, both in the retail sector and in meat processing.
Russia stopped accepting pork products from the EU due to cases of African swine fever (ASF) in Lithuania. However, European veterinary services, in violation of existing agreements, continued to process veterinary certificates for product shipped to Russia.
"This - the violation of agreements between the relevant authorities of the EU and Russia - was the reason that freight was stopped and turned back at the border. Dozens of trucks with pork are now moving in the direction of the border with Russia with veterinary certificates that do not meet the requirements of the Customs Union," Yushin said.
At this stage, considering that the European authorities continued to process veterinary certificates for several days after the discovery of ASF in Lithuania, Russia's Federal Veterinary and Phyto-Sanitary Oversight Service could not have and should not have done otherwise, he said.
"It's not clear at this point whether illegitimate certificates were signed due to carelessness, negligence or in the hope that no one would notice, but the violation is very serious and it could have had drastic consequences for our economy," Yushin said.
He also said that in the past few years the National Meat Association has repeatedly warned that the lack of coordinated action to fight ASF at the international level is jeopardizing the world pig farming industry.
"Unreasonable savings on anti-disease measures cost the economies of countries with developed pig farming, including Russia, dearly. Each separate country in the modern world, with its porous borders, growing world trade and tourism, is not capable of ensuring guaranteed protection from the penetration of animal diseases, including those that are dangerous for humans," Yushin said.
He said that coordinated action by the veterinary services of Customs Union countries is needed in order to keep out the ASF virus. "Since there is no customs border between our countries, there's a risk of potentially unsafe products getting into Russia, particularly through Belarus. It is also necessary to completely eliminate the possibility of the virus being brought in from Ukraine, where it was discovered quite recently," Yushin said.
