Russia ready to fill China’s food gap left by US in trade war fallout
- As African swine fever devastates local industry, China has been turning to other sources of protein
- Russian meat producer looks forward to adding pork and soybeans to its poultry exports to China
Russia’s leading meat producer has said it is ready to fill the supply gap left by the US as the world’s most populous market struggles with the double blow of a devastating swine fever epidemic and a protracted trade war.
Cherkizovo Group, the largest meat producer in Russia, began shipping poultry products to China last month, and is now looking forward to selling pork and soybeans there, according to CEO Sergey Mikhailov, in an interview with the South China Morning Post on Thursday.
Hopes that China would buy more pork, soybean and other protein products from the US were dashed last month after trade negotiations with the Trump administration fell apart. Beijing included pork and chicken on a list of retaliatory tariffs on US$60 billion worth of American products in May and China has also reportedly suspended its soybean imports from the US since then.
As a starting point, Mikhailov said his company expected to ship around 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes of poultry products, mostly chicken feet, wings and drumsticks, to the Chinese market next month, quickly rising to 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes per month.
“We estimate the potential for Russian poultry exports to China may be around 200,000 tonnes a year, and Cherkizovo alone is targeting to reach 40,000 tonnes of poultry products to China next year,” Mikhailov said, on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.