Lower Tariffs Boost Russian Hog Imports as Meat Imports Fall
Lower Tariffs Boost Russian Hog Imports as Meat Imports Fall
Although Russia’s Federal Customs Service is reporting that Russian meat imports were 31 percent lower in the first five months of 2009 than in the same period of 2008, imports of live hogs are helping replacing these lost meat imports. In May alone, according to an article in the Vedomosti newspaper, Russia imported about 110,000 hogs, half of them from Lithuania. An import duty of only 5 percent applies to the value of hogs compared to the in-quota duty of 15 percent and the out-of-quota duty of 75 percent on pork. 110,000 hogs equate to about 8,250 metric tons (18.2 million pounds) of pork – almost 19 percent of one month’s worth of the pork import quota, 531,000 metric tons (1.17 billion pounds).
Importing hogs to evade the higher tariffs on pork date at least back to 2004, when 55,000 hogs were imported from Poland in eight months, after 2003 total hog imports of 25,000. A lack of processing facilities in Russia restricted hog imports, but in the last three years capacity has increased 30 percent. Last year, Russia imported 603,000 hogs, and the 2009 figure is certain to be higher. In the first five months of 2009, hog imports totaled 367,000.
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The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.
For more information, contact Jim Herlihy at jherlihy@usmef.org.
Lower Tariffs Boost Russian Hog Imports as Meat Imports Fall
Although Russia’s Federal Customs Service is reporting that Russian meat imports were 31 percent lower in the first five months of 2009 than in the same period of 2008, imports of live hogs are helping replacing these lost meat imports. In May alone, according to an article in the Vedomosti newspaper, Russia imported about 110,000 hogs, half of them from Lithuania. An import duty of only 5 percent applies to the value of hogs compared to the in-quota duty of 15 percent and the out-of-quota duty of 75 percent on pork. 110,000 hogs equate to about 8,250 metric tons (18.2 million pounds) of pork – almost 19 percent of one month’s worth of the pork import quota, 531,000 metric tons (1.17 billion pounds).
Importing hogs to evade the higher tariffs on pork date at least back to 2004, when 55,000 hogs were imported from Poland in eight months, after 2003 total hog imports of 25,000. A lack of processing facilities in Russia restricted hog imports, but in the last three years capacity has increased 30 percent. Last year, Russia imported 603,000 hogs, and the 2009 figure is certain to be higher. In the first five months of 2009, hog imports totaled 367,000.
# # #
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.
For more information, contact Jim Herlihy at jherlihy@usmef.org.