In an attaché report posted last week, USDA-FAS indicates that Russia’s 2016 tariff rate quota (TRQ) volumes appear consistent with its WTO commitments. The TRQ volumes for Belarus remain unchanged, while Kazakhstan’s TRQ volumes will increase for beef and poultry but its TRQ for pork is eliminated in 2016. Details are as follows:

Russia

• TRQ volumes are unchanged but country-specific allocations for beef are not specifically indicated.
• USMEF will continue to monitor the situation, but it appears that Russia will continue to base import license allocations off historic import data, and if/when U.S. beef regains access, Russia will allow shipments to resume under the 60,000 metric ton (mt) U.S.-specific frozen beef quota.
• The pork TRQ, which is for all suppliers, remains at 400,000 mt plus an additional 30,000 mt for trimmings (all at zero duty).

Belarus

• TRQ volumes for 2016 remain unchanged from 2015: 20,000 mt for pork, zero for beef.
• Unlike 2015, however, the 2016 TRQ agreement no longer allows Belarus to increase its TRQ for pork from 20,000 mt to as much as 40,000 mt if the country exhausts at least 70 percent of the full-year TRQ in the first half of the year.

Kazakhstan

• Increased its TRQ volume for frozen and chilled beef, from 10,020 mt in 2015 to 21,000 mt in 2016.
• Slashed its TRQ volume for pork from 9,700 mt in 2015 to zero in 2016.