US Ambassador for Russia Michael McFaul said US companies lost $5m-$6m in the first 11 months of 2013 and continued to suffer under the ban. He added that reports that the US had lost $5bn-$6bn as a result of the ban were false.
Experts of the Russian Meat Union agreed with McFaul’s estimates, claiming that, on average, the US was losing $550,000 per month as a result of the Russian meat ban. “That is the profit the American companies received before February 2013,” they said.
McFaul said he would make every effort to ensure the ban was lifted. However, on several occasions, representatives of US trade delegations have stressed the US will not stop using ractopamine, which is one demand the Russian veterinary services insist must be met before meat imports from the US are allowed into the country.
“US producers also have to invest a lot of money to change their production systems so they can comply with Russia’s veterinary requirements. Since most of the export-orientated enterprises are exporting meat not only to Russia, but also to countries that allow meat with ractopamine, changing might not be profitable for them,” said Russian Meat Union member Andrew Golovanow.
According to information from Russia’s veterinary service Rosselkhoznadzor, US officials continue to claim that Russia’s ractopamine requirements are not compliant with its obligations under the World Trade Organization (WTO), and risk undermining bilateral trade relations between the two countries.
However, Russia may partly lift ban on the imports of some type of meat from US. In particular, Rosselkhoznadzor announced that it could allow imports of poultry by the end of January, while last month it adopted large quotas on imports of pork and beef from the US in 2014, which suggests Russian authorities do intend to return US meat to the country’s grocery shelves.