Russia imported $607 million worth of U.S. poultry last year, and Georgia is one of the nation's top broiler-producing states, with 1.22 billion birds totaling 6.2 billion pounds in 2000.
Eight percent of the state's poultry production is sold to Russia, said Abit Massey, executive director of the Georgia Poultry Federation.
Mar-Jac Poultry in Gainesville estimates it would loose $50,000 a week if the ban is not lifted soon.
Russian agricultural officials implemented the import restriction on Sunday, citing concerns about sanitary conditions in U.S. plants and the use of antibiotics in American chickens.
U.S. officials say the poultry is safe and no different from chickens sold in American markets.
Some believe that the ban is retaliation for newly adopted tariffs on steel imports by the United States.
``The meat is the same meat they've been buying from us since they normalized relations with us,'' Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin said. ``Anytime you run into this kind of boycott, it leads you to believe it's retaliatory.''
The poultry industry has a presence in almost every county in Georgia, especially the northeastern portion of the state, and employs 50,000.
``We've eliminated all overtime and formed a task force to increase the yield of the meat we take off the birds,'' said Doug Carnes, Mar-Jac vice president. If the ban continues for several months, the 50-year-old company may consider laying off some of its 12,000 employees.
``We're hopeful come Friday there's going to be a resolution to the issue at least a temporary solution,'' said Jim Sumner, president of the U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council and a member of a trade and agricultural delegation sent to Moscow.
Bo Coursey, export manager for Fieldale Farms in Baldwin, said his company and others are meeting with supermarket suppliers and food retailers to encourage more sales or specials to raise domestic consumption of dark meat, the preferred cuts in Russia.
But Mar-Jac's Carnes said any benefit is likely to be marginal.
``We're trying to open up some new markets. So are all our competitors. We've got a lot of poultry hitting different markets at the same time,'' Carnes said.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/3/197496