With allegations emerging yesterday about direct Russian military involvement in Ukraine, the chance of any kind of deal to ease the sanctions stand-off between the EU and Russia looks slim.
Meanwhile Russian meat buyers have been approaching Micarna, one of the largest producers of fresh meat, charcuterie, poultry and fish in Switzerland, for supplies of meat and meat products, to replace the lost EU supplies.
"Yes, we have recently received some inquiries from Russian importers," said Roland Pfister, head of the company’s communications section. The inquiries concerned "mainly pork, especially bacon, tongue and sausage meat as well as liver, but also in smaller quantities sausages are in demand," he told GlobalMeatNews.
"If these inquiries are economically viable and the settlement of the export arrangements can be secured, Micarna will try to meet the demand," he said. But it was an "open question" whether this would enable Micarna to gain a long-term, sustainable place in the Russian market.
"Once Russia accepts European countries as suppliers again, demand is expected to decrease for Swiss products because of the higher price level," he said. Pfister said Micarna did not want to publicise the actual numbers for the potential exports that are currently under discussion "but they are at a relatively low level".
This is not least due to the uncertainties in the Russian market, he said. "In order to build a long-term supplier relationship, there is a need for detailed planning and stipulation through contracts," Pfister said.
Part of the problem for Micarna and other meat suppliers based in Switzerland is that there is little tradition and experience of sending large scale Swiss meat exports to Russia. There will also be a number of certification issues to overcome, said an official at the Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft (BLW), the Swiss federal office for agriculture.
This problem was highlighted by Jürg Jordi, head of corporate communication at the BLW. Swiss exports of meat and meat products to Russia in 2013 amounted to just US$60,000 and in 2012, US$50,000’s worth of goods. Jordi also stressed that there was a "complicated process for certification", to be overcome.
Sandra Helfenstein, head of administration at the communication unit of the Swiss Farmers Union, stressed that Switzerland has "a self-sufficiency of about 50% [for meat and poultry] and the rest we have to import". As a result, there were currently limited opportunities for the export of Swiss meat to Russia because "we haven’t got enough ourselves…"
The Russians would also have to pay a high price for quality meat products from Switzerland – higher than it had been paying from many EU exporters, she warned, although Russian importers are clearly prepared to stump up to secure quality Swiss cheese.
The Schweizer Fleisch-Fachverband SFF (Swiss meat association) said it was "not getting involved" in the Russian situation. "We can’t predict if the Swiss meat shipments to Russia will be affected by the crisis or not," said Elias Welti, head of communications at the SFF.