Cherkizovo plans to increase poultry exports to reap the benefits of a weaker ruble, said its chief executive Sergei Mikhailov.

Although the ruble has strengthened over the past three months, Mikhailov told Reuters that Cherkizovo should have taken advantage of the weaker ruble, which plunged last year on falling oil prices and Western sanctions over Ukraine.

He said the company would aim to export 10%, up from between 1 and 2 % currently, targeting consumers in the Middle East, Africa and China.

"We are starting to export poultry, but in small volumes. It will largely depend on the ruble devaluation," said Mikhailov.

Mikhailov said the company's base-case scenario implied meat consumption in Russia would drop to 67-68 kilograms per capita in 2015 from 71-72 kilograms last year as Russia enters recession. Poultry accounts for about half of all meat consumption in Russia.

As poultry demand weakened, prices have fallen by 15-20% in rubles since September to October last year, he said, a situation not helped by the weakness of the ruble which has also raised the cost of feed grain and veterinary drugs.

Mikhailov also said falling consumption would make 2015 a more challenging year for the company, which would shift its focus from raising production to cutting costs and increasing the share of more profitable, higher value-added products in its sales mix.

Cherkizovo expects its 2015 revenue to be about 80 billion rubles (US$1.6 billion), and a margin on earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation at 15-17%, lower than in 2014 but more than in 2013.