According to the Russian Federal Service for Government Statistics (Rosstat), in the first quarter of 2008 Russia increased meat production by 19.7% compared with the same period of last year. Russian businessmen are puzzled as to where it will all be processed.
Meat production, including first category sub-products, amounted to 672,000 tons in January to March. In March, meat production grew by 19.4% compared with the same period of last year, and by 5.6% towards February. The figures are striking, but are finding confirmation from businessmen.
The current growth is primarily connected with increased meat and poultry production volumes. “The production volume of poultry has grown by 15-20% per year in the last four years,” says Andrey Dmitriev, deputy general director for marketing and sales at Kurinoe Tsarstvo (Chicken Kingdom).The president of the Russian Meat Union, Musheg Mamikonyan, confirms these figures, but draws attention to the fact that there are now more risks. While feed has become more expensive the product itself is being sold at the same price.
The growth of pork production is the result of national projects to speed up the development of cattle breeding. The projects give producers the opportunity to take out concessional loans for developing production, building cattle breeding and poultry farming facilities, and leasing equipment.
Producers and businessmen are not afraid that such volumes will not be sold. “They will be bought, the market is only developing. We are not far from US consumption,” says Dmitriev. Partial import substitution will begin to happen and, according to Mamikonyan, sooner or later imports will be replaced. “I say sooner or later because at the moment there are not enough processing factories or sufficient infrastructure,” he explains. “There are plans to start large-scale projects with crazy capacities, but these do not exist yet,” agrees Dmitriev. There are not enough facilities for freezing. Sausage production is growing in far smaller volumes than meat. According to Rosstat, in the first quarter of 2008, it increased by 9.9% to 555,000 tons. So, our farmers can rear meat, but can’t always process it.
Olga Shevtsova
Photo: ITAR-TASS
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