The United States continues to work with Russia to find a fix for Moscow's ban on U.S. poultry, but officials are just beginning to sort out how to deal with a new chicken trade spat with China, a top Obama administration farm trade official.

Having the top two export markets for U.S. poultry closed at the same time has hurt the industry, said Jim Miller, the U.S. Agriculture Department's undersecretary charged with trade matters.

"It's a difficult situation but we believe there are ways we could reach an agreement on reopening our poultry trade with Russia," Miller told Reuters.

But the Chinese issue is tangled with other factors, Miller said on the sidelines of the USDA's outlook forum.

"We'll be discussing a number of issues throughout the year with the Chinese, and poultry will be one of those issues," he said.

The bans have been a concern for major chicken companies like Tyson Foods Inc, Sanderson Farms and Pilgrim's Pride Corp.

Russia effectively banned U.S. poultry last month, citing concerns about the routine use of chlorine rinses that the United States maintains are safe, and are used to kill bacteria that can cause food poisoning.

China said then that beginning Feb 13 it would slap steep anti-dumping duties on U.S. chicken, that U.S. trade groups say are high enough to keep U.S. chicken products out.

China began its investigation into U.S. chicken parts after the U.S. imposed safeguard duties on Chinese-made tires, which China is fighting at the WTO

New Meeting with Russia in the Works
Miller traveled to Moscow last month, and said both sides now have narrowed the issues needed to be resolved.

Top Russian consumer protection official Gennady Onishchenko has invited the U.S. team to return "with the hope of finalizing an agreement," Miller said.

"We are going to respond favorably to his request. But we don't know yet what the time of these meetings will be," Miller said, noting they would probably take place in Moscow.

Miller declined to comment on the details of how the two nations might agree to end the disagreement.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told Reuters Insider that the two sides are working out technical details.

What you don't want to have is what you think is an agreement only to find that either A) it's not what the Russians want or would accept, or B) it's not what our industry can do," Vilsack said.

Separate technical disagreements affecting U.S. pork and beef trade to Russia are "very close" to being finalized, Miller said. (Reuters)