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Russia to resume Canadian pork imports

Russia will lift its two-month ban on imports of Canadian pork in response to Canada's upgrades of its export documents. Russian ports have been closed to Canadian pork since April 1, 2008.

June 5, 2008  By canadiancattlemen.ca


June
4, 2008

Russia's two-month ban on imports of
Canadian pork will be lifted as
Canada upgrades the security of its export
documents, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Tuesday.

Russia closed its ports of entry to
Canadian pork on April 1 this year because of concerns about "fraudulent
export documents," Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada said in a release.

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The government has
"swiftly" addressed those concerns by having the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency increase the security features on certificates, AAFC said.

Exports of Canadian pork to Russia in 2007 had totalled $144.8
million, making it
Canada's third largest pork market,
according to the federal ag department.

According to the Canadian Pork
Council's Martin Rice, quoted last month by Resource News International,
Canadian pork shipments to
Russia during the first two months of 2008
totalled 17,000 tonnes, compared to 15,000 in the year-earlier period. Total
shipments of Canadian pork to
Russia in 2007 were 90,000 tonnes.

"Russia is a key market for Canadian pork,
and I would like to thank my counterpart, Alexey Gordeyev, minister of
agriculture of the
Russian Federation, for working with me to resolve
this issue," Ritz said in AAFC's release.

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