7 Oct 2022 09:57

Russia exporting animal products to 90 countries, but not tapping full potential - watchdog

KUBINKA. Oct 7 (Interfax) - Russian companies are exporting animal products to more than 90 countries, but they are not tapping their full export potential, an aide to the head of plant and animal health watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, Artyom Daushev said.

"Exports are growing steadily. We ship animal products to more than 90 countries. In 2022 alone, access was opened in 38 countries for 22 types of products," Daushev said in a panel discussion at the Golden Autumn agribusiness exhibition.

In trade of animal products it is important that suppliers comply with the requirements of the importing countries, he said. "This is the most important thing, because if these requirements are not met there can be serious problems," Daushev said.

Particular attention is paid to compliance with these requirements when suppliers are included in Rosselkhoznadzor's Cerber system, which maintains a registry of exporters. The system now includes 4,796 businesses that have the right to export animal products, including 1,349 suppliers of fish and fish products, 676 suppliers of feed and feed additives, 64 suppliers of beef and cattle by-products, 95 suppliers of pork and by-products, 129 suppliers of poultry meat, and 265 suppliers of milk and dairy products, according to Daushev's presentation.

However, many companies have the right to export products to dozens of countries, but do not export to all of them, he said.

Only 42 out of 95 eligible companies export pork, 772 out of 1,349 export fish and fish products, 64 out of 129 export poultry, 69 out of 211 export prepared meat products and 12 out of 64 export beef. "We see that the potential is, indeed, huge," Daushev said.

Speaking about impediments to exports, he mentioned the epizootic situation first of all. There have already been 101 reported cases of African swine fever (ASF) in Russia this year, compared to 62 last year, Rosselkhoznadzor data show. "We talked about pork exports to China, but we really have a long way to go at the moment, because the situation is not helping us," Daushev said.

The situation in other countries is even more serious. For example, there have been 556 cases of ASF reported in Latvia this year and 1,191 in Poland. Meanwhile, the number of cases in China has dropped to one from 15 last year.

Daushev also recalled that starting in March 2023 the duration of inspections of companies for compliance with the requirements of importing countries will be slashed to 20 days from the current 45 days.