Livestock producers are excited over numbers recorded by the United States Meat Export Federation (USMEF). According to the group imports to Russia have increased from 800 to 1,200 metric tons per week.
“We think this is going to be a good year for exports to Russia,” USMEF Senior Vice President Thad Lively said. These large numbers to Russia have no been seen since 2008, which totaled $95.3 million for the livestock industry.
“This is an area we are very enthusiastic and excited about at this stage in the game,” Lively said. “We track the export sales on a weekly basis and qe’re off to a start this year that could put us on track to equal the export volume we had to Russia in 2008, which was a record year.”
Russia has played an important part in export sales in a variety of meat markets including beef liver and variety meats, but rarely in the beef market as it is now.
“With the exchange rate of the Russian currency to the Brazilian currency, Brazil’s our principal competitor in Russia, (makes the U.S.) very competitive in that market,” Lively said.
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