World meat industry news

In the Russian livestock sector at the end of last year, a slowdown in growth was noted. According to preliminary estimates, the total number of livestock and poultry in all farms decreased, primarily due to a decrease in the number of poultry and sheep/goats.

However, positive dynamics persists in the production of livestock and poultry for slaughter (in live weight): in all farms, it increased, according to preliminary forecasts, by 2.6%  against the November level. Against the backdrop of a good grain harvest and traditionally active production dynamics by the end of the year, the growth in livestock and poultry production (in live weight) did not come as a surprise. The increase was noted for all categories of farms, but in different subsectors. So, in agricultural enterprises, the growth of the total indicator was provided by producers of beef and pork, in peasant farms, cattle producers are responsible for the increase, in private households the main growth was in poultry production.

Imports of meat and offal to the Russian Federation continued to decline. The annual dynamics are in the red for all types of meat, but purchases of imported pork and lamb increased relative to November.

Exports of meat and by-products, on the contrary, went up, although the December indicators still fell a little short of the level that allows them to surpass imports - about a thousand tons were missing. But in general, the annual export dynamics are positive, with the exception of poultry and mutton, which supplies to foreign markets have slowed down. In general, the growth in meat exports is a natural result of the work on opening new markets, which has been done in recent years.

Average producer prices for livestock and poultry on the Russian domestic market showed positive dynamics. Production prices for meat showed annual dynamics similar to the dynamics of the livestock and poultry market. According to preliminary estimates, only poultry meat fell in price in the wholesale segment, but pork, even against the background of achieving self-sufficiency, strengthened in price, since the growth rate of domestic production slowed down compared to last year. Retail prices for meat increased over the month, on average, by 0.7%, since the beginning of the year - by 2.5%, and relative to December 2019, the price tag increased by 1.4%.