World meat industry news

By 2026, the National Union of Pig Producers predicts an increase in live weight pork production by 13 percent from last year, or approximately 750 thousand tons. Such forecasts were voiced at the general annual meeting of the organization’s members by its general director and member of the ROSNG Expert Council, Yuri Kovalev, writes “Veterinary Science and Life”.

This year, the union expects the output of these products to expand by seven percent to 380 thousand tons, and next year and 2026 the figure should increase by another 200 and 165 thousand, respectively. In general, the growth rate after this year should slow down to three percent. “From the updated data, it is obvious that these plans are extremely realistic, because they are in an advanced stage of implementation,” Kovalev noted. He also highly appreciated the prospects for consuming this meat. In his opinion, “the trend of the past three years allows us to hope for an increase in consumption of at least 300 thousand tons over the next three years.” A prerequisite for this, he called the inevitable reduction or stability of pork prices, which in the medium term will shift consumer demand for this meat away from beef and poultry. Kovalev also recalled that in the first half of this year, domestic pork consumption increased by 130 thousand tons. And by the end of this year, he expects to exceed 200 thousand.

The analyst explained the positive dynamics in production over the past 15 years and the future increase in production by sufficient concessional lending. In particular, the expert explained the increase of 350-400 thousand tons this year by the effect of loans that were taken out back in 2018. The increase in production in the next two years, in his opinion, should be facilitated by the introduction of capacities that were built using commercial loans received by companies even before the Central Bank raised the key rate to 16 percent. However, he noted that due to the new rate, further expansion of production capacity will be complicated. After all, loans will become less available to farmers.

According to industry union forecasts, future additional volumes of pork will not only be distributed within the country, but will also be exported.