World meat industry news

The Ministry of Agriculture is preparing additional measures to support the beef market. This is the only one of the main types of meat, the production of which decreased in the first half of the year, Kommersant writes.

To solve the problem, producers may begin to allocate subsidies for fattening dairy bulls for slaughter. Market participants are also in favor of abolishing the quota for duty-free beef imports. In the first half of 2022, pork production in slaughter weight in Russia increased by 5.7%, to 2.1 million tons, poultry - by 5.8%, to 2.5 million tons, beef production decreased by 2.3%, up to 626.8 thousand tons. The decline in production is associated with the refusal of the largest beef producer in the country, ABH Miratorg, to purchase cattle from farmers.

Demand for the purchase of cattle fell sharply from beef producers after the admission to the market of 200 thousand tons of imported frozen beef at a zero rate instead of the usual 15%. The strengthening of the ruble and duty-free imports led to a decrease in prices for imported beef, which made it unprofitable to purchase and grow cattle. The decrease in the purchase of cattle also led to a reduction in its livestock by 1.99%, to 7.7 million heads.

A subsidy from the Ministry of Agriculture can increase the economic effect for market participants, which will increase the supply of beef.

Earlier it was reported that Russian farmers began to refuse to hand over their livestock for slaughter due to the low purchase price offered by meat processing plants. This is due to the appearance on the Russian market of cheap imported beef: in the last week alone, the purchase price for Russian meat has fallen by 15% and has been decreasing for the third month.