In late July, the Russian Parliament passed the legislation necessary to complete that country’s accession into the WTO after being invited to join the organization in December, 2011. As of August 23, trade agreements made by Russia in order to join the WTO will go into effect. In 2011 beef and beef variety meat exports to Russia were up 24% in volume and 83% in value, while pork exports increased by 35% in both volume and value. With the accession into the WTO, the Russian duty rate on in-quota imports of U.S. pork will decrease from 15% to zero; and as the U.S. is now part of the global quota, more pork can be exported to Russia duty-free. Though the duty on beef will remain at 15%, Russia has agreed to raise the quota on U.S. beef imports from 40,000 to 60,000 metric tons in 2012.