U.S., Russia to End Poultry Trade Dispute Fri Aug 23,11:21 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington and Moscow have reached an agreement to end a trade dispute that threatened to block U.S. poultry exports to Russia, the biggest buyer of American chicken, a U.S. Agriculture Department official said on Friday.
"This agreement comes at a critical time for the U.S. poultry industry and will allow trade flows to resume with much greater certainty," Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said in a statement.
The two sides also agreed to new health certificates that include testing, inspection, hygienic requirements and documentation for U.S. poultry shipments.
Russia has been the largest foreign buyer of low-cost U.S. poultry meat, buying some $640 million of chicken and turkey legs last year. But the trade flow has been interrupted for most of this year as Moscow demanded new health and safety standards to go into effect in September for the U.S. product.
Russia was concerned about avian influenza, a highly contagious disease that has hit flocks in several U.S. states. The ailment does not generally pose a threat to human health and the U.S. poultry industry claims the U.S. meat would not threaten Russia's flocks.
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