Russia recently relisted a number of U.S. commercial poultry production facilities as eligible exporters into Russian markets. The ban originated in March of 2010 over Russian concerns about high chlorine content in poultry, and U.S. poultry producers were later instructed to comply with the same requirements as Russian poultry producers, in order to resume exports.
Russia consumed 9.8 per cent of US chicken exports in 2010, which was about half of 2009 volume. USDA data shows that America’s exports to Russia have dropped steadily for the past five years, as Russia works toward self sufficiency in commercial poultry production. While 2007 shipments totaled 870,558 tons, this year’s exports are expected to be no more than 250,000 tons.
Commercial poultry production facilities in the U.S. are now working to replace lost Russian sales with other, emerging international markets.
The FSIS’s list of approved poultry establishments can be found here: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/ofo/export/russiapoulst.htm.