Russia demanding more meat from China after Western sanctions

Russia's recent restrictions on food imports from the West mean that its demand for meat from China will soar, a senior insider has predicted.

Meat processing enterprises in far eastern Russia alone need nearly 100,000 tonnes of meat as raw materials each year, which provides a huge market for their Chinese counterparts, said Kitaev Pavel, vice president of the Meat Processors Association of the Far East, at a purchasing fair in Suifenhe City of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The two countries will develop logistics, transportation and storage, he said during the four-day event, which closed on Monday.

In August, Russia banned fruit, vegetables, meat, milk and dairy imports from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway, after Western countries imposed a new round of economic sanctions on it.

Russia had a 13-year ban on pork imports from China over quality concerns. But on Oct. 12, a Chinese firm was allowed to export 800 tonnes of pork to Russia, seemingly opening the floodgates to such trade.

"This is a new opportunity for China and Russia to boost bilateral economic and trade relations," Pavel said. "As long as China can ensure the quality of meat products, we will see long-term cooperation."