TURKMENISTAN'S MINISTRY OF TRADE WANTS TO PURCHASE

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001086 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB AGRICULTURE FOR FAS COMMERCE FOR STARKS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL EAGR ETRD TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN'S MINISTRY OF TRADE WANTS TO PURCHASE BUSH LEGS REF: ASHGABAT 1075 ¶1. Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (U) This is an action request. See para. 4. ¶3. (U) Wepa Kariyev, Head of Foreign Economic Relations at the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, called Econoff on August 19 with an urgent request for contact information for large U.S. poultry producers. He said that Turkmenistan intends to make a large purchase of chicken legs ("Bush legs") in the very near future. ¶4. (U) ACTION REQUEST: Post asks for a list of large chicken producers/exporters who could respond to a large order and their coordinates (addresses, telephone and fax numbers, websites, and corporate salesperson) that we could pass to the Turkmenistan government. The Government of Turkmenistan is accustomed to making such purchases very quickly, once its officials have decided that this is the course of action that they will take. Therefore, a very fast response would be greatly appreciated. END ACTION REQUEST. ¶5. (SBU) COMMENT: Turkmenistan's flocks were heavily culled due to avian influenza concerns in 2006. Since then, the country has seen prices for both poultry and eggs rise dramatically, culminating in a serious shortage of chicken at the markets during the winter of 2007-08. The government is clearly determined to prevent a similar situation in the future. During an August 15 cabinet meeting, the president called for Turkmenistan to establish new poultry farms. The proposed purchase is clearly intended to be a stopgap measure directed toward keeping poultry prices at the markets under control. END COMMENT. CURRAN