April 24, 2014

Polish meat industry players posted improved export sales for 2013 as local companies exported 699,000 tonnes of poultry meat, an increase of 9% compared with a year earlier, according to figures published by the state-run Agricultural Market Agency (ARR).

Chicken meat dominates Polish poultry exports, with 482,000 tonnes exported in 2013, while the country's turkey meat exports totalled 133,000 tonnes, down 7% from 2012.

Poultry meat is also continuing to expand its share in the domestic meat market, which fosters further investments, according to data released by the country's Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics (IERiGZ). In 2012, an average Pole consumed 26.6 kilogrammes of poultry, which represented more than 37% of the total Polish meat consumption per capita of 71.7 kilogrammes.

With a view to increase sales both in the domestic and export markets, Polish poultry processors are planning a number of new investments to boost output.

Polish poultry processor SuperDrob is planning to spend up to PLN120 million (US$39.6 million) to set up a new poultry processing plant in Łodzka special economic zone (ŁSSE) in Poland's central region. In addition to this, the company aims to open a new poultry farm under a PLN40 million (US$13.2 million) investment.

Meanwhile, Polish meat industry company PHP Karex has announced plans to open a new poultry farm in Mechowo, in Poland's Western Pomerania region. Under the plan, the company will build six poultry houses with a capacity of 50,000 head. As a result, the new poultry farm will have a total capacity of 600,000 head.

PHP Karex owns a turkey farm in Mielęcin, in the country's north-west. The amount of the planned investment was not disclosed by the Polish firm.