Russia extends pork ban to finished products
Russia previously announced a ban on pork imports from the EU in January this year, following an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in wild boars, in Lithuania.
Rosselkhoznadzor said it had repeatedly pointed out the lack of proper veterinary controls with the EU, with regards to the movement of pork and pork products between member countries.
It said a major concern was the fact that the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO) of the European Commission (EC) could not guarantee that the use of raw porcine meat from EU countries affected by ASF would not enter the production chain of finished goods entering the Russian Federation.
It said that, due to this concern and the lack of measures to eliminate and prevent the spread of ASF, Rosselkhoznadzor would also take up the measures imposed by the Department of Veterinary and Food Control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Belarus in respect to finished goods containing pork.
Last week Rosselkhoznadzor met with a delegation of representatives from the EC, on the back of a meeting with the WTO Committee on Sanitary Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) in Geneva.
The Russian delegation was led by the deputy head of Rosselkhoznadzor Eugene Nepoklonov, and the director of DG SANCO Bernard van Gotham.
According to a statement from Rosselkhoznadzor, Van Gotham said Russia should accept the regionalisation proposed by the EC, namely the imposition of restrictions on pig-breeding products from the six regions of south-eastern Lithuania, and three north-eastern regions in Poland.
However the Russian representatives "categorically rejected the proposal", pointing out the absence of evidence from other areas of the EU regarding the risk of ASF, and voiced its dissatisfaction at the materials for the risk analysis it had requested from the European Commission in early February.
Last month GlobalMeatNews reported that six European countries had proposed the introduction of a temporary vaccine certificate in order to resume supplies of pork to Russia, recently limited due to ASF outbreaks in Belarus and Lithuania.
In March, commissioner Dacian Cioloş of the EC, met with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in Warsaw, and informed him that the EC was ready to compensate losses suffered by Polish pigmeat producers from the areas affected by ASF restrictions. According to a statement from the EC: "The crisis has had a very negative impact on farm revenues and brought the sector to a halt."
Cioloş said: "This is a serious situation and I informed Prime Minister Tusk that the Commission was ready to financially support this scheme.
"As well as continuing to talk to the Russians about regionalising the disproportionate global ban that Moscow introduced on imports of all EU pigmeat, the Commission is following the pigmeat market very closely and will take further action if necessary."
Tusk said: "The results of discussions we had today will contribute to the efforts we are undertaking to mitigate the losses of our farmers and the meat processing industry."
According to the EC, veterinary tests have shown that the pigs from the restricted zones were not infected with the virus and that the meat was perfectly safe.
The plan will be backdated to cover animals slaughtered since the restrictions were introduced. The aid will be based on the difference in the slaughter price in the restricted zone and the rest of the country in recent weeks.
