World meat industry news

 Analyzing the external supply of Russian meat, it should be noted that the largest buyer is China, whose share of purchases is 37%. In February 2019, Chinese purchases of poultry meat began, and by the end of this year they increased 1.8 times - to $265 million.

In 2020, the Chinese market also opened for Russian producers of cattle meat, resulting in the shipped volume of 8.7 thousand tons worth $48 million - more than half of all Russian exports of beef. Exports of Russian poultry meat to China in 2021 amounted to $ 160.4 million, and thus, China currently accounts for 67% of all exports of these products from Russia. This is facilitated by state support measures, in particular from the Ministry of Agriculture, which consist of concessional lending and partial reimbursement of the cost of certifying agricultural products in foreign markets.

In 2020, China became the main destination for domestic poultry products, but this market is not yet available for pork exports, which is a negative factor for the further expansion of Russian pork production. Thus, pork production in Russia continues to increase and the market has reached 100% saturation. This is why the Chinese market is essential for pork sales in this respect. This can be facilitated by the fact that due to the spread of African swine fever in the country, the number of pigs in China has decreased by 44%, reaching its lowest level in February 2020 - 194 million animals.

With regard to expanding activity in the Chinese market, Russian producers need to identify trends in the consumption of certain varieties of meat and meat products with a focus on a particular market niche. In particular, it is possible to concentrate on the supply of various components of chicken carcasses, which are in particular demand among Chinese consumers - individual parts of wings, cleaned paws.

In the first half of 2020, China imported 79.9 thousand tons of Russian meat. Meanwhile, 40.9 thousand tons were transported to Ukraine. The specified growth of Russian exports was due to an increase in supplies of poultry meat. Added to this was the fact that domestic producers were allowed to supply frozen beef to China, although the role of exports in this market segment is still not so high. Exports from Russia to China of goods from the group "Meat and edible meat by-products" for the period from February 2020 to April 2020 amounted to 77.3 million U.S. dollars, a total weight of 42 thousand tons. It is necessary to trace the dynamics of the value of Russian meat exports to China over a period of six years.

Factors such as border closures and a drop in consumer demand as a result of the spread of coronavirus have not been able to disrupt meat export plans, and Russian producers have had favorable opportunities to increase exports of meat products, with a corresponding increase in income.

In 2021, the volume of Russian pork exports may reach 300,000 tons only due to Chinese consumers. At the moment, the main buyers of domestic pork products are Vietnam and Hong Kong, which account for 60% of total supplies. About 38% of total Russian exports of meat accounts for China, which supplied 119 thousand tons worth 235 million dollars. - 3.9 times more than last year's figure in value terms and 4.4 times more in physical terms. The bulk of Russian exports of meat accounts for poultry, shipments of which increased in physical terms by 60% to 210 thousand tons. The growth in value terms was 71%, to USD 317 million.

The mentioned growth became possible due to the positive dynamics of shipments to China, the market of which opened at the end of 2018, and which takes the leading position in purchases and consumption of meat. In particular, in January-September 2019, poultry meat exports to China increased 4.2 times to 113 thousand tons worth $208 million. An example of this leadership is China's purchase of Russian beef, and thus now the PRC market already accounts for more than half of all shipments. In 9 months of 2019 more than 5 thousand tons of Russian beef worth $25 million were exported to the PRC.

Russia has never supplied beef to China and the elimination of various obstacles to this supply has lasted for about seven years. Regarding Russian beef production and external sales, it should be emphasized that Russian beef production is stagnant, as evidenced by the lack of growth in 2019 compared to 2018 and amounted to about 1.62 million tons in slaughter weight. Imports were 370.000 tons and exports were 9.000 tons. The main buyers of Russian beef are Vietnam, Belarus, Kazakhstan, etc. For Russian producers, beef supplies are an additional opportunity to expand their exports with increased profitability of cattle breeding by selling certain parts of animal carcasses at a more attractive price. This is facilitated by the fact that China is actively increasing its purchases of beef around the world. Both low-cost boneless meat and premium beef can be in demand on the Chinese market 

 The supply of Russian meat has a number of prospects to expand in the future, which provides additional conditions for the stable activities of a number of Russian meat producers. Back in January 2018, a list of 23 Russian enterprises (including Miratorg, Cherkizovo, Prioskolye, GAP Resurs, Belgranskorm, Agrocomplex named after N.I. Tkachev, Damate and others) specializing in poultry meat production was published, to which China has granted the right to supply products to its territory. And on February 28 of the same year the first shipment of 54 tons by sea was made. These positive moments in foreign economic activity on export of the Russian meat are a basis for expansion of mutually advantageous partnership of Russia and China in sphere of agroindustrial production.