World meat industry news

According to the "Analysis of the market for sausages and meat delicacies in Russia" prepared by BusinesStat in 2022, in 2017-2021 their production in the country increased by 8.1%: from 2.42 to 2.61 million tons. In the context of declining disposable incomes of the population, the trend of recent years has been a decrease in the volume of packaging of manufactured products. Manufacturers began to produce smaller sausages and delicacies, which made it possible to offer more reasonable prices for finished products.

The Russian market of sausages and deli meats consists of 98% of domestic products. But at the same time, domestic output is dependent on imported components. In July 2022, the European Union stopped importing artificial casings to Russia, which are necessary for the production of sausage products. Being the main supplier of such casings to the Russian market (more than 70% of all imports), the EU, by its decision, created a number of problems for the Russian meat processing industry. After the announcement of the sanction ban, sausage manufacturers began to search for alternative countries supplying casings to the Russian market to the European Union. Industry representatives are primarily considering the possibility of increasing purchases from China, Serbia and India. The option of replacing the shell type is also being considered.

The production of some types of artificial casings is well established at Russian factories. For example, collagen casings are produced at the Belkozin LLC plant in the Leningrad Region. The largest manufacturer of polyamide casings is the Atlantis-Pak plant in the Rostov Region. However, domestic producers are not yet able to meet the increased demand. In addition, in the production of the casings themselves in Russia, artificial ingredients are also used, including components from the EU countries, with which there are also difficulties now. As a result, it is expected that the output of sausages and deli meats in Russia will decline in the coming years. In addition to problems in the industry, the expected fall in exports, as well as weakening demand for sausages in the Russian market due to the economic crisis, will also negatively affect output.