October 13, 2009

In Russia this year, the level of pork production will increase by at least 4.4 percent thanks to huge government subsidies and recent imports restrictions.

According to sources in the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the number of pigs in Russia this year will increase to 43.6 million from 41.8 million in 2008.

However, most of the experts believe that it will not bring any major changes to the Russian meat market.

Sergei Yushin, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Russian National Meat Association, said the current meat output in Russia provides 60 percent of the domestic demand, but on some of the raw materials, such as skins, different types of cuts and bacon, the country has not provided more than 20 percent.

At the same time, the number of pigs in Eastern Europe is steadily declining, according to the results of a recent statistical research conducted by Russian industry analysts.

In the first half of the year, the herd size in the largest countries of the region declined by almost 10 percent, except for the Ukraine, where as of October 2009, the number of pigs has increased by 8 percent to 7.46 million heads, compared with the same period of 2008.

In the EU, the total number of pigs from the beginning of the current year fell by 6 percent, while pigs for slaughter fell by 5 percent.