11/12/2011
The Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Meat Institute inform that: in the framework of negotiations for the accession of the Russian Federation to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Uruguay took part in bilateral and multilateral meetings, especially regarding the meat sector.
As a result of this process, Uruguay attained some improvements that will allow for greater access of Uruguayan beef into the Russian market.
Among these improvements, the significant increase of the quota is to be highlighted. Uruguay will have access to a global frozen beef quota of 407,000 tons with a tariff rate of 15%.
Likewise, the country will maintain the benefit of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), whereby the final tariff rate will be of 11%. The increase of the quota was significant since at the beginning it was said to be of 70,000 tons.
Furthermore, the high quality beef access regime was also negotiated. In this sense, important improvements were achieved as to predictability, transparence and conditions for the development of this market. Among other aspects, the Russian Federation promised to develop a national high quality standard in a term of 18 months as of the date of its accession to the WTO.
In consequence, Uruguay will ask in due time for the homologation of its beef to the Russian high quality standards. This will allow for Uruguay to have access to a quota-free system for high quality beef with a tariff rate of 15 %.
