Russia plans to introduce quotas for chicken imports this year, Russian Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev said Tuesday, quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

"It is too early to say exactly when the quotas will be introduced," he said.

The ministries of agriculture, and trade and economic development are "discussing the terms" of the new measures, Gordeyev added.

Russia agreed Sunday to lift a ban on US chicken imports, imposed March 10 officially over concerns about the use of antibiotics in US poultry farming, by April 10 if Russian experts were allowed to inspect American poultry producers.

US poultry sales to Russia, which make up about 40 per cent of all US poultry exports, are worth between 600 million and 800 million dollars (690-920 million euros) a year.

Most analysts viewed the Russian embargo as a tit-for-tat move after Washington slapped tariffs of up to 30 per cent on steel imports and Russian politicians welcomed the ban as necessary to protect the struggling domestic poultry farming industry.