MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Russia lifts ban on imports of pork and beef from nine Brazilian plants

Russia placed temporary restrictions on imports of pork and beef from Brazil in 2017 over the alleged presence of the feed additive ractopamine, banned in Russia

Russia's agriculture safety watchdog said on Wednesday it would allow imports of beef and pork from nine Brazilian plants beginning on Thursday, ending an 11-month ban triggered by concerns about the safety of their meat products.

Russia’s Rosselkhoznadzor had placed temporary restrictions on imports of pork and beef products from Brazil in 2017 over the alleged presence of the feed additive ractopamine, which is permitted in Brazil but banned in Russia.

Those plants now cleared for shipments to Russia - once the destination for 40% of Brazil’s pork exports - include one operated by Minerva Foods and another by leading privately owned food processor Aurora Alimentos.

A list on the food safety agency’s website still shows a total of 32 Brazilian plants temporarily restricted from exporting meat products to Russia. Moscow has not discussed the possibility of expanding the decision to other plants yet, the watchdog said.

The Russian agency said it decided to lift the restrictions after Brazil provided guarantees of the safety of Brazilian meat products, including results of its investigation and details of measures taken to eliminate detected irregularities.

Shares in Minerva, one of Brazil’s largest meatpackers, rose 6.5% to 5.40 Reais, and BRF SA, Brazil’s largest pork processor by capacity, was the biggest gainer of the benchmark Bovespa index, up 4.59% in trading, although its plants still show up on the Russian watchdog’s website as “temporarily restricted.”