Russian meat exports could reach 750,000 t worth $2 bln in 2023 - Agroexport

MOSCOW. Dec 28 (Interfax) - Russian exports of meat and meat products could grow to 750,000 tonnes this year from 650,000 tonnes in 2022, the Agroexport Center reported, citing the head of the National Meat Association (NMA), Sergei Yushin.

"According to preliminary forecasts, exports could exceed 750,000 tonnes [worth] almost $2 billion. The strongest growth is being seen in sheep meat shipments - almost ninefold, and pork - almost 70%," Yushin said.

Exports of pork and pork by-products jumped 68% year-on-year to almost 237,000 tonnes in the first 11 months of 2023, Agroexport reported. The biggest markets were Vietnam, Belarus and Mongolia.

National pig farming association NSS forecast that pork exports could grow to more than 250,000 tonnes this year from about 170,000 tonnes in 2022.

Cherkizovo Group , one of Russia's largest meat producers, increased exports in 2023 despite the fact that the "year was uneven, there were many price and exchange rate fluctuations," Cherkizovo Trading House's head of foreign trade development, Natalya Bartnovskaya was reported as saying by Agroexport.

China, to which Cherkizovo ships a substantial share of its chicken products, remained the company's main export market. However, the company also began exporting pork to Serbia and increased turkey exports to Persian Gulf countries.

"We continued to increase exports of highly processed products and products for retail chains. In addition, we began exporting non-consumer products - granulated organic fertilizer of animal origin," Bartnovskaya said.

Industry representatives believe the prospects for meat exports in 2024 hinge in large part on the start of pork exports to China, which Russian plant and animal health watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor expects could begin in the next two months.