World meat industry news

Rosstat reported that the volume of agricultural production in Russia in January-June increased by 2.2% compared to the same period in 2021 and amounted to over 2.2 trillion rubles. The agency notes that by July 18, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, grain and leguminous crops in all farms were threshed on an area of ​​6.4 million hectares, which is 10.7% more than by the corresponding date last year. Grains were threshed 26.9 million tons (in the initially recorded weight), which is 35.2% higher than the result a year earlier, including wheat - 22.1 million tons (plus 45.8%).

In the first half of the year, in the structure of production of livestock and poultry for slaughter (in live weight, in agricultural organizations), there was an increase in the share of production of pigs and poultry compared to the same period of the previous year by 7.2% and 6.1%, respectively. At the same time, cattle production decreased by 1.4%. In general, the increase was 5.9%. At the end of June, the number of cattle in all farms, according to calculations, amounted to 18.4 million heads (minus 2.3%), of which 7.8 million cows (minus 1.6%), pigs - 27.8 million (plus 2.3%), sheep and goats - 23.3 million (minus 0.3%), poultry - 568.4 million heads (plus 0.5%).

A significant decline in the first six months shows fishing. Thus, the production of live marine fish decreased by 4.2% year-on-year, fresh or chilled - by 5.5%, non-frozen crustaceans - by 11.1%, freshwater fish - by 48.6%, fresh or chilled freshwater fish - increased by 11.1%.

Director General of the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies Dmitry Rylko said that the growth in the first half of the year was expected. Also, according to him, in the third quarter of 2022, the increase in agricultural production will be quite significant, and by the end of the year it will be about 4%. Daria Snitko, head of the Center for Economic Forecasting at Gazprombank, believes that given the expectations of a record harvest of grain and oilseeds, production growth this year will be 3.2-3.5%. Georgy Ostapkovich, director of the HSE Center for Market Research, believes that growth will be at the level of 1.5-2%, and this is an absolutely predictable result, which almost does not depend on the human factor.

Agricultural production is really showing good dynamics this year, including due to the low base effect — in 2021, the harvest was quite low, recalls Alexander Korbut, Vice President of the Russian Grain Union. In his opinion, given the expected record harvests of grain and oilseeds, and despite the difficulties in some other crops and livestock (relatively low exports due to the strong ruble and limited domestic demand), by the end of 2022, agricultural production in Russia may grow by 2.2 -2.5% is a very good result, adds Korbut.

“I would not draw any conclusions based on the results of June. Still, the results of the agricultural year should be assessed at least after September, when the main harvest is completed, ”Ostapkovich draws attention. According to him, the growth of agricultural production is possible due to the relatively low dependence on imports - the sanctions pressure does not hit it as hard as, for example, the manufacturing industry. In addition, the main problem - seed material - is not acute this year, since all purchases took place last year. “Therefore, I don’t see any special problems in agriculture at the end of the year,” commented Ostapkovich. There should not be any difficulties with animal husbandry this year either, and so far everything is going well in this direction, he continues. “Problems may arise next year: seed material is mainly imported, as are bullseed and chicken crosses. That is, everything will depend on how it will be possible to negotiate with Western partners,” the expert believes.