World meat industry news

The volume of production of lamb and goat meat in all categories of Russian farms for the whole of 2022 decreased by 2.2% compared to the previous year and amounted to 205 thousand tons in slaughter weight (453 thousand tons in live weight).  

In the industrial sector, the production of mutton and goat meat decreased by 3.5%, to 17.8 thousand tons, in households - by 4.7%, to 128 thousand tons. In peasant farms, production increased by 4.2%, reaching 59.0 thousand tons.

Thus, in 2022, 62.5% of the production of mutton and goat meat fell on household farms, 28.8% on peasant farms, and only 8.7% on agricultural organizations.

Along with the decline in production, there is a reduction in the number of sheep and goats. In all categories of farms, as of January 1, 2023, it decreased by 1.1% compared to the same date of the previous year - to 20.7 million heads. In agricultural organizations, the number of animals increased by 0.7% over the year, to almost 3.14 million heads.

An increase in livestock in agricultural organizations is observed in four of the eight districts, namely in the North Caucasus, Central, North-Western and Southern federal districts. In the South, the increase was the most significant - more than 13%. The leading regions include the Kursk and Tula regions with an increase of 31.4% and 21.9% respectively, as well as the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (+6.8%). The strongest reduction in herds of sheep and goats was recorded in the Urals Federal District - almost 23%.

Imports of mutton decreased by a third last year, and in general, imported products account for only 0.2% of the market. At the same time, domestic livestock breeders are successfully trying their hand at international trade: in 2022, lamb exports increased five times compared to the previous year, but it still occupies an insignificant share in the total supply of meat and meat products.