Russia
Russia is a growing economy, with a population of around 142 million people, and is the second largest beef importing nation in the world behind the US and ahead of the EU.
Consumption of beef products continues to outpace local beef production, which has been decreasing over the last decade as a result a reduction in the domestic cattle herd.
Rapid growth in food prices has been a major influence on Russia’s inflation, a sensitive issue among consumers and policy makers.
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Australian exports
Australian exports to Russia during 2008 were dominated by beef, followed by offal and sheepmeat. Australian beef exports to this market jumped to 69,763 tonnes in 2008 as a result of limited supplies out of Brazil, Argentina and Europe, in addiiton to rising demand from Russian consumers and a decreasing local beef production.
See the latest export statistics:
Australian red meat exports to Russia
Imports
In 2008, Russia imported 10% more beef and veal than in 2007, totalling nearly 0.8 million tonnes swt. Brazil is still the main supplier to this market, with more than 400,000 tonnes swt of unprocessed beef shipped in 2008, 11% less than in 2007, as a result of tight supplies during 2008. Other main suppliers of beef to Russia in 2008 were Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.
The US, an important supplier of beef until 2003, was banned from the market after the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) outbreaks were detected; both countries agreed to resume imports in November 2007, with an import protocol that included animal age limitation (up to 30 months) and product origin restrictions (no Mexican or Canadian beef). Trade has resumed and in 2008 the US shipped almost 19,000 tonnes of unprocessed beef to this market.
Tariff Rate quota
Russian authorities have issued a new regulation which sets the meat tariff rate quota (TRQ) import regime for the period 2010-2012. According to the regulation, the chilled TRQ will increase by 500 tonnes to 30,000 tonnes, while the frozen TRQ will increase by 80,000 tonnes to 530,000 tonnes. The quotas will be administered via the issuing of import licences to eligible Russian companies.
Russian beef import quotas - thousand tonnes swt
| |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
| Chilled beef |
29.5 |
30 |
30 |
30 |
|
EU |
29 |
29 |
29 |
29 |
|
Other Countries (including Australia) |
0.5 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
| Frozen beef |
450 |
530 |
530 |
530 |
|
EU |
355.5 |
60 |
60 |
60 |
|
USA |
18.5 |
21.7 |
21.7 |
21.7 |
|
Paraguay |
3 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Other Countries (including Australia) |
74 |
448.3 |
448.3 |
448.3 |
| Total |
479.5 |
560 |
560 |
560 |
Meat inspection systems and market access
In 2007, Russia launched a new system of Electronic Verification for meat and poultry imports designed to detect counterfeited veterinary certificates and reduce smuggling of illegal livestock products.
This system started in 2007, with Australian red meat processors being the first to implement it. The certificates are issued by AQIS and administered by DAFF, who then send the electronic version to Russian authorities. This new verification process will be soon applied to beef, pork and poultry imports from the US, Canada and Denmark, and eventually all suppliers.
Market developments
The Russian meat market offers opportunities for Australian product in the high-end market segment, as business and tourism traveling is surging and there is increasing interest for new products.
Supplies from South America, especially Brazil are expected to continue supply the lower end of the market with competitive product, in a market dominated by price sensitive customers.
More information
For further information on Russia, please contact the regional representative office:
· Russia: mla-russia@yandex.ru, or call +7 91 6076 5404 (Moscow)
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