Ukraine doubles its frozen poultry meat production

Frozen poultry meat production in Ukraine rose by 91.4 % to 136,000 tonnes in 2013. In 2012, this figure increased by only 6% on a year-to-year comparison, the country’s State Statistic Service has reported.

Frozen poultry is usually produced for the export market, explains Dragon Capital analyst Tamara Levchenko. The domestic market predominantly focuses on fresh or chilled meat, where production grew by only 6.8 % in 2013 to 732,000 tonnes.

“Because of the saturation of the domestic market, Ukrainian producers are currently looking for new markets,” said Anastasia Sobotyuk, of one of the Ukraine’s largest poultry producers MHP.

According to Dragon Capital estimates, the share of MHP in the total structure of Ukraine exports in 2013 amounted to about 80%. During 2013 it exported 120,000 tonnes of poultry.

In 2013, about 50-60 % of export shipments of chicken meat were sent to the Customs Union which is less than in 2012 when this figure was amounted to 70%. Ukraine manufacturers are currently trying to decrease the share of exports supplies that are going to these countries. “These markets are very risky, they can be closed at any time,” explains Sobotyuk.

In May last year for example, the largest market Russia was closed, while in August the shipments from Ukraine to Kazakhstan were limited for three months due to reports that Salmonella and listeria were found in Ukrainian poultry products.