Russian meat exports expected to grow by at least 10% to almost $2 bln in 2023 - NMA

MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax) - Russian meat exports will increase by at least 10% to almost $2 billion this year, the National Meat Association (NMA) forecast.

"Exports from Russia are growing and this year, according to preliminary estimates, they will increase by at least 10%. Overall shipments of meat and meat products, including by-products, prepared products, smoked and deli meat could be near $2 billion in value," NMA head Sergei Yushin said during a business mission by Russian agricultural product exporters to South Africa arranged by Russia's Agroexport Center and Agriculture Ministry.

Russian meat exports rose to 692,000 tonnes in 2022 from 634,000 tonnes in 2021, according to his presentation.

Agroexport data show that meat exports, not including prepared products, totalled $1.4 billion in 2022.

Russia exports poultry meat to 33 countries, pork to 14 countries and beef to 23 countries, Yushin said. "Overall there is access to the markets of 70 countries and shipments annually go to 50-60 countries, including some countries in Africa," he said.

"For example, in poultry meat we compete with leading world producers such as Brazil, the United States and European Union, which have an active presence on the South African market. If access is opened, we're prepared to compete with these countries. We have a good competitive advantage," Yushin said.

The leading importer of Russian pork is Vietnam and Russia also exports pork to Mongolia, Hong Kong and other countries, but "of course we want to expand the geography, because the potential of pig farming is growing and Russia can become an important supplier on many world markets," Yushin said.

Demand for beef, meanwhile, will grow in the next few years, including in Africa, he said. "We're interested in supplying both beef for further commercial processing and premium quality meat. Russia has proven itself very well on demanding markets such as Hong Kong, China, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and others. Our premium beef has a presence in the best restaurants in these destinations. I'm sure South Africa can also have Russian beef on the menu," Yushin said.

Russia will increase production to 5.35 million tonnes of poultry, 435,000 tonnes of turkey and 4.8 million tonnes of pork in 2023 from, respectively, 5.3 million tonnes, 420,000 tonnes and 4.532 million tonnes in 2022, the presentation showed.

Poultry is the leading segment of the Russian meat market, accounting for 45% of the total, with broilers making up 90% of this, Yushin said. "The amount of production forecast this year will make it possible to not only meet domestic needs but also increase exports," he said.

Pork production will grow by 6% in 2023, and next year "we expect that the pace of production grow will not slow and we'll retain fourth place in the world by pork output," Yushin said.

"Despite the fact that there are cases of African swine fever in our country, like a number of other countries, tight control and oversight by veterinary agencies, companies' efforts and investment in biological security enable us to protect basically all industrial complexes, and also medium and small businesses, from losses of livestock, the number of which is growing annually," Yushin said, adding that Russia is willing to share its experience in this regard with countries facing such problems.

The NMA told Interfax that Russian meat exports, including by-products but not including prepared products, grew by 30% to 545,000 tonnes in the first nine months of 2023, as pork exports jumped 70% to 212,000 tonnes, poultry exports rose more than 10% to nearly 300,000 tonnes, beef exports increased by 9.5% to almost 30,000 tonnes and sheep meat exports surged 650% to 7,000 tonnes.