World meat industry news

Cherkizovo Group, Russia's largest meat producer, took part in a meeting of the Agricultural Commission of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) to talk over the current state and future expansion of agricultural exports.

In his opening remarks, Sergey Mikhailov, CEO of Cherkizovo Group, member of the RSPP Management Board and Co-Chair of the Agricultural Commission, stressed the importance of export growth for the progressive development of Russia’s agricultural industry and overall economic growth. He pointed out massive untapped growth potential for agricultural exports, which can be realized by leveraging the best global practices and effective cooperation between the government and business community. To that end, he believes that companies from different agricultural industries should get together to work out comprehensive solutions addressing the targets and priorities of all key market players, the government and consumers.

According to Sergey Mikhailov, export growth should help improve the sector's profitability, while also driving capacity upgrades and sustainable development of rural regions, without jeopardising the interests of Russian consumers. He also believes that export regulation should not be a barrier to global expansion for exporters of certain agricultural products, enabling the diversification of their supplies. In his opinion, various social support initiatives may be instrumental in boosting domestic consumption of agricultural products.

Dmitry Krasnov, Head of the Federal Center Agroexport, noted that despite the COVID-19-related challenges, Russia’s agricultural exports added 19% in 2020 and for the first time exceeded food imports, having surpassed USD 30 bn. According to him, early estimates for 2021 show the continued positive trend: by mid-May, exports of agricultural products have reached nearly USD 10.9 bn vs USD 9.94 bn in mid-May 2019.

Yuri Kovalev, Director General of the National Union of Swine Breeders, spoke about the strategic importance of exports for the development of the Russian pork production industry. He pointed out that last year Russia both had a strong position among Top 10 global pork exporters and further improved its self-sufficiency in pork, which totalled 105% in 2020. As the domestic market becomes more saturated, export expansion to sizeable foreign markets, primarily in the Asia-Pacific region, becomes particularly important, says Yuri Kovalev.

Sergey Lakhtyukhov, Director General of the National Union of Poultry Farmers, talked about key poultry export destinations, as well as structural changes and challenges awaiting poultry exports in 2021. Commenting on the diversification of Russian exports, he noted that a 2% decline in exports to China was virtually offset by a 7% growth in sales to Africa. Sergey Lakhtyukhov believes that higher sales to new fast-growing markets may strengthen resilience of Russian exports amid the high level of uncertainty in the global economy, while also having a favourable effect on domestic production.

The meeting participants also supported the proposal of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture to foster a strong export-oriented agricultural sector with a view to boosting annual agricultural exports to USD 34 bn by 2024.