MOSCOW Russia may launch an antidumping investigation into U.S. poultry imports, AFP quoted the Interfax news agency as reporting Friday.

Russia's state-owned Rosptitseprom Company, tasked with regulating Russia's poultry supplies and industry, has asked the Agriculture Ministry to begin such an investigation, the Deputy Agriculture Minister Sergei Dankvert said.

"We do not intend to ban U.S. poultry imports, because Russia needs them," Dankvert assured, adding however that the ministry would ensure fair competition in Russia's imported poultry market.

Rosptitseprom is alarmed by a steady decline in prices for U.S.-produced poultry and the marked difference in the price of poultry imported from the United States as opposed to that coming from Europe, Dankvert said.

Last year, U.S.-imported poultry cost 0.51 dollars per kilogram (2.2 pounds), while European imports cost a minimum of 0.60 dollars per kilogram, Dankvert said.