World meat industry news

Russian poultry farmers opposed the adoption of additional measures to increase the import of eggs into our country and limit their own supplies. As Interfax reports, this statement was made by the head of the Russian Poultry Union, Elena Stepanova, at the conference “Russian Agricultural Trends 2023-2024”.

Let us remind you that we are talking about the plans of the Ministry of Agriculture, announced this week, to zero out import duties on these products for six months and to ban their own export for the same period. The expert noted that today eggs are supplied to Russia only from Belarus, and in general our country is aimed at expanding its own production. In this regard, she believes that Russia should not make it easier for other countries to supply this product. This, in her opinion, will lead to an imbalance in the Russian market. Regarding the export of eggs, the head of the union recalled that they are now being imported to Mongolia, and in general the share of supplies is one percent of total production. She also noted that such logistics ties with the Asian country have been developing for years, and their disruption could lead to serious losses for domestic enterprises and the loss of this sales market for an indefinite period.

Stepanova also spoke about the current situation in the domestic egg market. She explained that the increase in prices for these products in recent months is associated with high consumer demand, which was superimposed on the seasonal factor. At the same time, the head of the union recalled that the average selling price for four months this year was lower than last, and in just ten months it increased by only almost nine percent. She considers another reason for the rise in prices to be the policy of some retail chains whose contracts to fix prices and production volumes have expired. She explained that the Russian Poultry Union enters into an agreement on such contracts with manufacturers and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. At the same time, Stepanova does not expect a decrease in egg production this year, predicting, in the worst case, reaching the level of last year. According to Rosstat, at that time 46.1 billion eggs were produced in the country, or 2.7 percent more than in 2021.