Putin sets stage for poultry trade talks

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said U.S. poultry producers need to comply with Russian processing standards or risk losing Russia's business.

Putin issued his warning in advance of bilateral talks concerning U.S. poultry exports to Russia, scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Russia has been cutting poultry import quotas in recent years, but last year passed an effective ban on U.S. poultry by setting a limit on how much chlorine can be used in processing, RIA Novosti reported.

That law took effect Jan. 1. Two weeks later, Putin said Russia would find another supplier for poultry if U.S. producers did not comply with Russia's standards.

The European Union has a similar ban in place concerning poultry cleansed with chlorides, an issue currently under review at the World Trade Organization.

Russia opened its markets to U.S. poultry producers in the early 1990s, but has been reducing the quota in recent years. After peaking at 1 billion metric tons in 2001, the quota has shrunk to 600 million metric tons for 2010 and is scheduled to drop to 409 million metric tons by 2012.