18.06.2010

The U.S. Agriculture Department plans to buy as much as $14 million worth of dark meat chicken products to help producers facing a glut in stocks and decreasing prices. The U.S. chicken industry lost its top export market for dark chicken meat in January when Russia blocked imports due to concerns about a routine chlorine wash used by U.S. processors. Companies in the U.S. chicken industry, under normal circumstances, sell more than 700,000 metric tons of chicken legs to Russia every year – about 1.5 billion lbs.

For several months negotiations to resolve the issue have dragged on while product has been placed in cold storage due to the relatively limited domestic market for dark meat.

The USDA reported there were 90.59 million pounds (41.1 million kilograms) of dark meat chicken leg quarters in storage as of April 30, a 21 percent increase from 74.713 million pounds a year ago. The leg quarters are a key export item.