World meat industry news

According to the National Pig Producers Union (NSS), now the demand for pork is at its peak. “Every year in July and August there is the highest level of demand for pork in the season. Prices on the wholesale market are completely formed under the influence of the supply and demand ratio,” Yury Kovalev, General Director of the Union, told Agroinvestor.

This year, according to his observations, the demand for pork is even higher than in the same period last for several reasons. “Firstly, the weather in most regions is good for the barbecue season, despite the fact that it rains in places. In addition, people traditionally go on vacation in July-August, and this year many of them did not go to other countries. But the main factor in the growth in demand was pork prices, which have been stable and even declining in recent years,” Kovalev explained. “In 2022, they were on average 5-6% lower than a year earlier, in the first half of this year they decreased by another 4-5% compared to the same period last year.”

In the past two years, pork prices have been the most stable relative to their growth for other types of meat and food in general, the head of the NSS emphasized. Now wholesale prices for pork have caught up with the cost of poultry meat. “If two or three years ago the difference in price per kilogram of a broiler carcass and a half-carcass of a pig reached 50%, now their cost is the same,” says Kovalev. This also shifted part of the demand towards pork. “NSS is constantly receiving information that meat processors are switching from chicken to pork in recipes, as the latter has become more affordable, while poultry, on the contrary, is more expensive,” he notes.

Kovalev also draws attention to the fact that the state continues to support the poor with social benefits, plus, in the last year, there has been an increase in GDP, especially in depressed regions. “According to the Central Bank, this year, compared to the same period in 2022, household incomes increased by 3%. For low-income people, this is very important, and part of these funds is directed to food,” comments Kovalev.

Pork supply, according to the NSS, is very high - in the six months of this year, agricultural organizations, which account for more than 90% of the total production in the country, increased output by 5.9%. “This is a huge figure. At the same time, the supply of broilers is growing at a slower pace - by 1.5% over the same period, ”Kovalev compares.

The average prevailing price for pork over the past seven months of this year has not increased compared to 2022, it may even have decreased by 1% and definitely become 2-3% less than in the same period of 2021, says the head of the NSS, citing to Rosstat data. He predicts that the average price of pork at the end of the year will be at the level of 2022, and if it increases, then only by 1-2%, which is significantly lower than the inflation rate.