World meat industry news

Russia sets itself the task of doubling the supply of meat to foreign markets within five to seven years, and by 2030 to become one of the top five world pork exporters, said Andrey Razin, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Economy of the Russian Federation.

“We started talking very seriously about increasing our export potential, about the fact that the volume of our external meat supplies to foreign markets should at least double in the horizon of five to seven years, with an increase in pork exports,” Razin said.

According to him, “this is quite an ambitious, but on the other hand, quite tangible goal, since Russia has learned to cope with big challenges. Now the industry is showing growth, and at the end of the year the positive dynamics will continue,” he added. At the same time, biosecurity is an important issue in achieving this goal: the incidence of African swine fever (ASF) has turned from a seasonal factor into a problem that has to be faced throughout the year.

“Production is gaining volumes, and we have serious ambitions to enter foreign markets, but this is possible if we only establish biosecurity at each enterprise in order to minimize the risks that we are facing now,” Razin emphasized, noting that the problem epizootic well-being being the guarantor of food security.

According to the National Union of Pig Breeders, following the results of nine months, the Russian Federation increased pork production by 6.2%, to 4.159 million tons. Pork is the main driver of meat production growth in the country both in terms of volume and growth rate.

The total export of pork products from Russia from January to September decreased by 15%, to 128.7 thousand tons. In particular, exports to Belarus increased by 2.5 times over nine months, exceeding 55 thousand tons and becoming the main direction of supplies with a share of 43% of the total volume. The share in the total export volume of the countries of Southeast Asia (Vietnam and Hong Kong) decreased to 30% from 50% in 2021, while the EAEU countries, on the contrary, increased from 20% to 50%.