World meat industry news

China has expressed interest in importing live reindeer from Russia. This issue was discussed at the 12th meeting of the Russian-Chinese permanent working group on cooperation in the field of veterinary supervision, phytosanitary control and food safety, Agroexpert reports, citing a source familiar with the progress of the negotiations.

Rosselkhoznadzor promised to provide its Chinese colleagues with all the necessary information to assess the risk of supplying these farm animals to the Chinese market by the end of this month. In turn, the Chinese side, according to the source, promised to promptly provide feedback on this issue.

Previously, our country has already supplied abroad both these animals and their meat. According to Interfax, citing data from the federal center for the development of agricultural exports, Agroexport, owned by the Ministry of Agriculture, over six years, Russia exported about 100 heads of deer, including 45 spotted ones, for breeding. The center does not specify where exactly they were imported. And in 2020-2023, Russia supplied several small batches of reindeer meat to Belarus and Kazakhstan. The news agency also cited data from Rosstat, according to which at the end of 2022 (there are no more recent data), the number of this livestock in Russia was 1 million 632 thousand, or 62 thousand more than in 2021.

The 12th meeting of the Russian-Chinese permanent working group on cooperation in the field was held in the Chinese city of Sanya. The Russian delegation was headed by the deputy head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Konstantin Savenkov, and from China, the deputy head of the Main Customs Administration (GTU) of the People's Republic of China, Wang Lingjun, spoke. The result of the meeting was the agreement on 41 points of bilateral agreements on mutual cooperation in the field of veterinary and phytosanitary supervision. The parties noted that the strengthening of relations between both countries, including through the competent departments, will have a positive impact on the indicators of their bilateral trade.