WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - New Russian inspection rules could trim U.S. beef exports to the market as of Feb. 1, two influential U.S. senators said in a letter to President Barack Obama on Friday, urging action on bilateral meat trade issues.
"We have been told that the U.S. beef industry has been informed that only U.S. product which has been inspected according to Russian standards will be allowed into the country as of Feb. 1, 2010," said Blanche Lincoln, chairman of the Senate agriculture committee, and Saxby Chambliss, the ranking Republican on the committee.
"If the information is correct, it will also significantly impact U.S. beef exports," they said.
U.S. government officials could not immediately confirm the information.
Russia informed the United States a few months ago that it was concerned about production methods at several large U.S. beef plants, a meat industry source told Reuters. At that time, it issued the Feb. 1 deadline.
"It has to do with issues of plant protocol on testing and how things operate at the plants," the source said.
The U.S. meat industry is watching the situation to see whether it escalates, another industry official said, noting it was too early to tell whether beef exports would be affected.
Russia has effectively banned imports of U.S. poultry amid concerns about a chlorine wash used by U.S. producers. It also has banned almost all U.S. pork in recent weeks on allegations the meat contained excessive antibiotic residues.
U.S. trade and agriculture officials are slated to meet next week in Moscow with counterparts to discuss the poultry ban.
Last year, Russia was the 10th-largest market for U.S. beef and was worth $95 million — a small share of total U.S. beef exports of $3.6 billion, according to government data.
For 2009, the value of Russian imports as of November was down 60 percent.
The news had little effect on U.S. cattle futures because of the small size of U.S. beef sales to Russia, said Peter Adams, principal at PNM Trading in Chicago.
"It’s a big splash in a small puddle," he said.
