CHICAGO (Reuters) -- U.S. chicken producer Pilgrim's Pride Corp said on Friday that it is packing chicken for shipment to Russia and that its August production for Russia is sold out.

"We have resumed packing product for Russia," Pilgrim's Pride Chief Executive Don Jackson said during a quarterly conference call. "Within a few days we have sold out our entire August production volume for our Russian approved plants."

In addition, he told Wall Street analysts, the company is "booking orders for September at prices above August."

Russia was once the largest export market for U.S. chicken, but banned the meat earlier this year because a chlorine disinfectant used here violated its food safety policies.

Russia lifted the ban in June when the U.S. industry agreed to use other treatments. But it has been only in the past week that U.S. plants were approved to ship to Russia.

Russia typically buys dark-meat leg quarters, and that product had been piling up in warehouses during the ban.

(AG)