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USMEF International Buyers Conference Product Showcase Registration Kit
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Russia Imposes New Meat Tariffs and Quotas
As we reported last month, the Russian government is imposing quotas for imports of beef, pork and poultry. More details of the scheme are emerging.
· The quotas for beef and pork come into force on April 1, 2003, and are designed to remain in place for four years.
· The Russian government intends to award licenses for 90 percent of beef and pork imports within these quotas to traditional shippers in proportion to their share of imports from 2000 to 2002.
· Only frozen beef is included in the quota, not chilled. All imports of chilled beef pay a 5 percent duty.
· Beef and pork offal and trimmings are not affected.
· Meat imported from members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) is exempt from the quotas.
· The non-contiguous Russian enclave, Kaliningrad, has separate, existing quotas for pork and beef (beef: 15,000 mt frozen, 5,000 mt fresh; pork: 2,000 mt bellies, 27,000 mt remainder).
· The poultry quota is applied on a country basis — the U.S. quota is 553,500 mt.
The annual import quota for beef is 420,000 metric tons (mt) with an import duty of 15 percent, but no less than 0.15 Euro per kilogram. The duty on beef imports in excess of the quota will be 60 percent, but no less than 0.6 Euro per kilogram.
Pork imports will be limited to 450,000 metric tons annually. The size of the import duty on pork within the quota will be 15 percent, but no less than 0.25 Euro per kilogram. The import duty on pork beyond the quota will be 80 percent, but no less than 1.06 Euro per kilogram.
The new limits compare to 2001 Russian imports of 475,577 mt of beef, 398,207 mt of pork, and 1,390,747 mt of poultry meat.