April 29, 2011

Cherkizovo posts increase in Q1 sales of poultry and pork

Russian meat producer Cherkizovo reports increase in first-quarter poultry and pork sales, and expects prices to pick up later in the year amidst rising demand and reduced imports.

First-quarter sales volume of poultry rose by 15%, pork by 5% and processed meat by 8%.

Cherkizovo said on Thursday (April 28) that the company sold products at higher prices in dollar terms but rouble poultry prices fell 5% on the previous quarter, due to high imports at the end of last year, which boosted inventories.

"We anticipate the pricing environment for our products to recover towards the second half of the year," said chief executive Sergei Mikhailov. This forecast was supported by expected growth in meat consumption, reduced imports and rising costs resulting from grain price increases, as well as by a shortage of supply driven by the reduction of stock, he said.

"We are making solid progress in our large-scale projects to increase poultry capacity, and this is already reflected in our sales volumes for the poultry division, and we are on track to provide significantly higher output from 2011," said Mikhailov.

First-quarter sales volume in the poultry division rose 15% to 53,570 tonnes of saleable weight, with pork up 5% to 20,220 tonnes.

"The pork division is delivering its volume growth in line with expectations, including operations at the acquired farms, while demand for our meat processing products has also remained strong," Mikhailov said. The meat processing division's sales volumes rose 8% to 33,200 tonnes.