Russia Continues Embargo on Brazilian Meat Imports

By CnAgri Print

The intervention of President Dilma Rousseff was not enough to convince the Russian government to lift the ban on meat imports from three Brazilian states, in place for a year and a half. The Brazilian Pork Export Association ABIPECS said that expectations of the industry announcement of an agreement have been thwarted and the Moscow authorities said they were still analysing documents and information submitted by Brazil.

At a news conference, Rousseff said that the Ministry of Agriculture of Brazil "was wrong" when informed two weeks ago that Russia had decided to resume imports of beef from Rio Grande do Sul, Paran?and Mato Grosso.

Besides the Russian embargo, Brazil faces problems related to the confirmation of a case of mad cow disease in 2010, which led Japan, South Africa and China to announce a halt to imports of Brazilian beef, reports the Poultry Site.

The president said the government is investigating the reasons for the delay of 14 months in the disclosure of the problem, which hit an animal Paran? The delay raised suspicions of lack of transparency and interference in health surveillance.

"For the embargoes by China and Japan, we will strive to clarify the situation, because it is a very localised," said Rousseff.

The authorities said that in its opinion, the measures are "absolutely normal" and were taken by the governments of these countries to "protect their populations."

At the weekend, the Brazilian met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called for an end to the embargo on the three states, imposed in June 2011 because of alleged health problems unrelated to the suspected BSE case.