Russia does not need to import poultry in 2011 as it has already amassed the required volumes and has increased domestic production, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
"We bought 1.5 million tons of poultry from the United States in previous years and this year our volumes have reached 300,000 tons. I think we can do without imports next year and in the near future," Putin told Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of Russia's Liberal Democratic Party.
Putin said that Russia's sanitary services often had misgivings about how poultry imports were being produced and transported. He said Russia was moving to increase domestic production.
"I want to remind you that Russia's domestic poultry production has increased by over 70 percent and pork by 39 percent in the past few years. This is a considerable growth for any economy and for any agricultural sector," Putin said.
On January 1, Russia introduced new sanitary standards, banning the treatment of meat with chlorine of a higher concentration than in drinking water.
A difficult negotiating process began between Russia and the United States, which previously accounted for over 80 percent of all poultry imports to Russia.
The talks resulted in Russia granting permission for 78 U.S. enterprises to supply poultry to Russia.
MOSCOW, Oct 19 (RIA Novosti)
