Chicken prices have risen by up to 30% in Moscow stores as a result of the Asian bird flu crisis.


Russia has banned its limited poultry imports from Asia and importers have been struggling to meet the higher prices that US exporters have been able to demand as a result.


Poultry now costs around 26 roubles (US$0.91) a kilo compared with 19 roubles (US$0.67) two weeks ago. But the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies in Moscow said the high prices were already prompting some importers to reduce or freeze imports from America, which sells around US$700m of chicken to Russia each year.