‘The growth of foreign meat production is predicted to be almost ten times greater than that of Russian meat output within the next four years. In the meantime, it is quite obvious that the price of foreign produce results from the subsidies these countries provide their meat producers with. What kind of fair competition can one speak of then? On the one hand, Russian farmers are told they need to produce more meat, whereas on the other, the state allows enormous influx of much cheaper foreign foods into the country,’ Head of Sverdlovsk Region Meat Union and GD of Good Taste Sergey Emelyanov said to UrBC.

Problems began when a lot of foreign meat was imported to Russia both legally and illegally, making purchasing prices plummet. As a result, Sverdlovsk Region-based meat producers have been suffering considerable losses.

'Russia has assumed certain responsibilities connected with its upcoming entrance to the World Trade Organization and will therefore have to comply with a number of regulations for the next four years. I believe introducing some state subsidies for Russian farmers (like the ones available to their foreign counterparts) and making our market accessible to local producers rather than foreign ones would be the best thing to do under these circumstances,’ Mr. Emelyanov noted.