Wholesale import slows poultry industry development in Moldava

During the eight months of 2011 Moldava produced 29 thousand tonnes of poultry meat according to official statistics, which is 2.5% more than during the same period of last year.

However, the government plans to further boost production volume, but experts noted that producers are currently experiencing some difficulty in terms of product realisation, as the internal market is full of imported poultry. Therefore it is predicted that in the near future the pace of development of the industry will significantly decrease.

According to the country’s Ministry of Agriculture the Moldavian government has repeatedly received complaints from local producers, demanding the application of economic mechanisms to limit the volume of imports poultry in the domestic market, but there was no accurate response.

“Today, the price of imported poultry is lower than our products, but our quality is significantly higher,” stated Ion Brizgu the director of Avicola-Moldova, one of the largest poultry producers in the country. “If consumers can not understand this, then the government should start regulating import supplies. We can not sell the meat at lower prices, because we already experience a loss due to rise of feed costs, which is now very expensive. In addition, the price of fuel in our country has recently increased too”.

According to Brizgu, the company did not raise the price for poultry since 2009 due to a fear of losing customers. Currently, a kilogram of poultry meat directly from the manufacturer is estimated at 28-30 lei (US $2.5).