February 14, 2008

Russia's pig industry forecast to slow down

Growth of the Russian pig industry has been forecast to slow down this year due to rising feed costs.

Russia's pig industry has experienced a boom since 2006, but the continuous increase of feed prices is taking a toll on the producers.

It is feared that many small producers, who are responsible for half of the production output, could be forced out of their businesses if they could not handle the high costs and is also unable to transfer extra costs to the consumers.

According to German consumer agency, ZMP, growth in 2008 is estimated to fall about 5 - 6 percent; although it is believed that bigger producers and increased use of modern technology will make up the lost output to some extent.

Grains account for 90 percent of feed input in Russia.