World meat industry news

The portal Meatinfo.ru analyzed the results of 2018, which was difficult for Russian livestock breeders and meat producers. The growth of grain exports caused feed prices rise. There was a series of bankruptcies in the poultry sector. VAT increased and Rosselkhoznadzor tightened the requirements for food manufacturers. Brazil has returned to the meat market in Russia, and that will strengthen competition. Nevertheless, last year the Russian agribusiness grew by 0.6 percent.

In 2018 14,875 million tons of livestock and poultry were produced for slaughter (live weight) - 362 thousand tons more than in 2017. In the meat processing sector, the total production of the main types of meat increased by 461.4 thousand (+6.2%).

In 2018, 290 thousand tons of beef were produced, and the volume increased by 37 thousand tons, the maximum growth (+29%) accounted for the production of frozen meat. 393 thousand tons in the total increase in meat processing amounted to pork, with the maximum increase in the production of pork by-products (+29%). Mutton production exceeded 9 thousand tons, and the increase by 2.3 thousand tons (+29%) was mainly due to chilled meat. A weak increase (+0.6) was observed only in the poultry industry.

In the Russian meat products market there was noted a slight reduction in the profits of producers due to a drop of income and purchasing power of consumers. This trend will continue in 2019. Another steady trend is increasing competition in the meat-processing sector. In the long-term livestock sector, development will depend on efficiency of production.