KANGAROO is set to bounce back on to Russian dinner tables after a two-year ban on the meat prompted by a hygiene scare.
A Russian ambassador to Australia revealed the news in an interview published today.
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The return of the trade would be a boost for Queensland kangaroo shooters and meat processing facilities, who have suffered badly since the 2009 import ban.
Up to 2000 jobs could be restored, many in Queensland in Australia's northeast.
Half a dozen factories in the state, including two in Brisbane, have been mothballed since the ban was imposed.
"We hope this will be settled," Vladimir Morozov told The Courier-Mail.
"In August, Australia made a draft memorandum of understanding that was sent to Moscow. It is now with the Russian quarantine service.The details are to be regulated, but it is now with the professionals, who are dealing with the Australian quarantine officials."
Russian consumers were big fans of Australian kangaroo meat and accounted for up to half of Aussie production, but Moscow clamped down after becoming unhappy with the way the meat was handled before export.
Morozov said kangaroo was previously sold in Russian restaurants as an "exotic" meat and was also highly prized as a source of concentrated protein in the production of sausages in the east of the country.
Read more on the Herald Sun.
