Russia reduces poultry industry support until 2020

The decline in global oil prices have led to a budget deficit crisis in Russia. In light of Russia’s recent accession to the WTO, the Ministry of Finance announced that is has decided to cut funding for agriculture.

Total farmer support will be reduced from 2.48 trillion roubles (US$ 83.2 bln) to 1.4 trillion roubles (US$ 46.6 bln) over 2013-2020.

As a result, the poultry industry financing program for the same period will decline by more than half – from 250 bln roubles (US$ 8.34 bln) to 100 billion roubles (US$ 3.2 bln).

Government representatives reported that the country will be forced to abandon the direct subsidies for the development of poultry production enterprises, as well as regional support programs for poultry producers. Many experts predict that such a step will make Russia’s poultry meat industry uncompetitive, leading to a rapid increase in poultry imports.

“Due to the new investors, as well as various innovations, Russian manufacturers expected to increase the daily growth of birds to 60 g, to reduce feed conversion to 1.6, and increase egg production to 325 units a year per one layer. With such a sharp reduction in funding we can forget about it,” said a member of the Russian Union of Poultry Farmers (Rosptitssoyuz).

Investments in 2012 in the poultry industry will already be reduced from 9 billion roubles (US$ 289 mln) to 4.5 billion (US$ 144 mln). The government meets on July 10th to set the agricultural budget for 2013-2020.