Inside Pigs
Russia wants to become a major exporter of pork
The Russian pig sector has grown considerably since 2014 and will continue to grow strongly in the coming years. The country is now almost self-sufficient in pork, but the ambitions reach further. The country aims to become one of the largest exporters in the world. This has stimulated the government to invest more money in the pig sector.
Read this article?
Become a subscriber and get instant access
Choose the subscription that suits you
Yuri Kovalev, the chairman of the pork producers' union in Russia, expects pork production to reach 2022 million tons per year in 4,4. This means that production must increase by 2017 (2022%) between 900.000 and 20,5.
Billions from the government
De Russian government also plans to distribute approximately €2017 million within the pig sector between 2022 and 4,9. Half of this goes to the 3 largest companies: Miratorg, Cherkizovo and RusAgro. These investments are part of Russia's ambition to become a major exporter of pork on the world market.
Kovalev expects that higher production will cause pig prices on the domestic market to fall, which will increase the demand for pork. He says that demand will increase by about 4% per year over the next 1,5 years.
The country lifted the import ban from Brazil at the beginning of November, which means that imports from that country will probably pick up again in 2019. Kovalev also shares this view. According to him, the current quota system will expire in 2020, allowing part of the production to be taken over by the own production.
Russia on the world market
Russia has for many years been primarily an importing country in the field of pork. At its peak in 2008, 39% (1,1 million tonnes) of meat was imported. Now Russia is changing course and aims to become the world's fifth largest pork exporter by 2020. The union expects exports to increase by 50% (to 300.000 tons).
These developments are putting pressure on the so-called 'backyard farmers'. They can no longer compete with the integrations, especially if these mega companies receive billions in subsidies. Total sales of backyard farmers will probably decrease by 2022 tons by 200.000, while large commercial companies will show an increase of 1,1 million tons.