OREANDA-NEWS The Russian government intends to distribute the unclaimed volume of the tariff quota for the import of frozen beef into the country by December 15, 2023. This is reported by Kommersant with reference to Resolution No. 1812 of October 31.

According to the document, the unclaimed volumes will be redistributed in the declarative order. The requests of those wishing to be able to import frozen beef into the country at preferential rates will be considered by the Ministry of Economic Development. The need for a "redistribution" of quotas may be caused by difficulties with making calculations against the background of international sanctions against Russia.

Experts explained the desire of the authorities to increase the volume of imports of frozen beef by a drop in the production of this type of meat inside the country. If in 2021 the indicator was 1,674 tons of products, then in 2022 it was only 1,614 tons. The volume of imports during this period of time was kept approximately at the same level — 287 thousand tons against 290 thousand. At the same time, by the end of 2022, the total consumption of beef in the country was estimated at around 1869 thousand tons, and the key suppliers were Belarus, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

In early August, Forbes magazine, citing data from the analytical company Emeat, reported that as of July 1, 2023, there were a total of 18.3 million heads of cattle in Russian farms. Compared to the same date of 2022, the indicator decreased by 0.8 percent. At the same time, over the past 10 years, the number of livestock in the country has decreased by 13 percent. So, as of July 1, 2013, there were 21 million heads in Russia. Against this background, the National Meat Association announced an expected reduction in beef production in the country.