World meat industry news

From January 1, 2023, a new type of support for livestock breeders began to operate in Russia - reimbursement of part of the costs of raising cattle (cattle) and subsequent production. It is planned to allocate 600 million rubles for these purposes in 2023. “It will be possible to recover part of the cost of producing cattle up to 24 months old for slaughter. We are talking about products that will go for processing - our own or specialized organizations, ”the Ministry of Agriculture specified earlier. The subsidy will be provided at a rate per 1 kg of live weight. The funds will be distributed by the authorities of the regions, according to a government decree.

General Director of the National Union of Beef Producers Roman Kostyuk said that, in his opinion, the new subsidy is a positive development, but there are very few funds allocated for it. “In general, this measure will not help the industry in any way. For example, if 600 million rubles. divided by the number of animals that are handed over for slaughter, according to the most optimistic forecasts, it will turn out 40 kopecks. per 1 kg. There is another option when a subsidy is allocated only to a few enterprises,” he commented.

Kostyuk added that the share of beef production in 2022 in the beef cattle breeding industry was 18-19%, and in the dairy farming sector - 65-68%. The rest is imports. “It turns out that the import of beef is approximately equal to the level of production in our country,” Kostyuk emphasized. He noted that beef production in Russia averages about 1.64 million tons per year.

In addition, Kostyuk recalled that the main problem of the beef cattle breeding industry is that support measures are usually addressed to everyone at once, both dairy and meat farmers. “This means that bulls bought from dairy farms and put on fattening are also considered animals for fattening,” says Kostyuk. He added that the breeding stock of cattle in Russia is not growing adequately to the demand for beef. “By the end of 2023, it will be interesting to see how these 600 million rubles. will lead to a change in the situation with an increase in livestock,” said the head of the union.