The Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) yesterday approved the volumes of import quotas for meat imports in 2013 for the Customs Union member states. For Russia, they will remain the same as this year (currently, they are 570,000 tons for cattle meat, for pork – 430,000 tons, poultry – 364,000 tons), and Belarus was given the opportunity in 2013 to increase previously approved quotas for pork imports from 47,200 tons to 60,000 tons, said Andrei Slepnev, Minister of Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission. According to him, when distributing quotas up to Until now, a proportional system has been used, in which a country receives a quota of 50% of the difference between domestic consumption and production. But this system has not proven itself, and from next year, a number of countries may receive additional volumes of import quotas for meat.

If we divide the volumes of pork consumption declared by the Belarusian side by the population of the republic, it turns out that a Belarusian eats almost 40 kg of pork alone per year, and a Russian – only 25 kg, says the head of the executive committee of the National Meat Association Sergei Yushin. He is convinced that in reality imported meat from Belarus goes to Russia. Moreover, the republic imports 60,000 tons of pork within the quota, and it itself sends about 60,000 tons of pork in the form of meat and 120,000 tons of finished meat products to Russia.

This is harmful to Russian pig farming, which is already in a difficult situation, says Yuri Kovalev, CEO of the National Union of Pig Farmers of Russia. The country has seen a sharp rise in feed prices and a fall in pork prices (by 25% in three months) due to the zeroing of duties within the quota after Russia's accession to the WTO, he explains.

Considering that this year domestic production will increase by 160,000–170,000 tons – up to 2.6 million tons in slaughter weight, any additional volumes of pork will negatively affect the situation, Kovalev emphasizes.

Now, when the development of the entire Russian pig-breeding industry is in question, it would be worth thinking about how to help domestic producers, instead of caring about neighboring markets, says Cherkizovo representative Alexander Kostikov.

Quotas for pork imports in Russia will remain in place until 2020, but in connection with the country's accession to the WTO, from August 23, 2012, the import duty within the quota was reduced from 15 to 0%, and outside the quota - from 75 to 65%. After In 2020, pork should be excluded from the quota regime, and the duty rate should become uniform - 25%. But according to Russia's obligations to the WTO, in addition to meat, live pigs for slaughter can also be imported to Russia, the import of which was previously subject to a duty of 40%, and after accession to the WTO - 5% without volume restrictions.

Meat is shared neighborly