World meat industry news

Russian officials are considering a drop in taxes for Brazilian poultry imports to stabilise the domestic prices. Eggs and chicken meat are the most affordable animal proteins for many Russians and the demand for these products has been rapidly increasing in the last 12 months.

Moscow has imposed grain export curbs and other measures in an attempt to slow food inflation amid the COVID-19 pandemic and falling household incomes. The possible tax cut was mentioned at a meeting of agriculture ministry officials and Russia's largest poultry producers on Tuesday, at which they discussed rising prices for poultry and eggs, according to the RIA news agency.

This year, poultry producers in Russia have been hardly affected by avian flu outbreaks and production has decline and officials are looking to large suppliers to cover the gap in the domestic market.
Russia's 2021 poultry import quota is set at 364,000 tonnes with zero tax for all countries. Outside the quota, the tax rises to 65%. "It was noted at the meeting that the government is discussing reducing the import duty on poultry meat from Brazil, which is one of the main suppliers of this product, as a possible stabilisation measure. This measure could be taken if other solutions are insufficient," the agency noted.