February 9, 2012

Moldova to export poultry products for EU markets

Moldova's Minister of Agriculture and Food Policy, Vasily Bumakov, has revealed that domestic poultry enterprises are ready to export their products to the EU.

Bumakov noted that exports of chicken meat and eggs can be carried out later this year if EU officials will approve the decision to trade with Moldova.

The Minister also said that the special European expert commission will arrive in Moldova to find out if products from local poultry farms meet the European standards.

Ion Byzgu, the head of Avicola-Moldova, one of the largest poultry companies in the country, says that Moldova currently produces 45,000 tonnes of poultry meat and about 800 million pieces of eggs annually.

"It is still far from the figures of self-sufficiency but in recent years, Moldova is an actively expanding export destination, which is very profitable for the country's poultry farms, as the price of sales in the export markets, including markets in the CIS countries can exceed 5-6 times the level of prices of the domestic market, which results in stimulating the rapid development of the national poultry industry. The cost of poultry production is very cheap in Moldova, because of relatively low social living standards."

If the country's poultry enterprises will be allowed to export their products to Europe, it will be an additional incentive for the development of the industry. However, representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of the country have expressed serious concerns about the fact that permission to export of poultry meat can not be obtained due to spread of avian cholera.