November 13, 2013

Ukraine's meat production and exports in 2013 have been boosted considerably by foreign investment in the industry.

According to Mykola Prysyazhnyuk, Ukraine's Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food, meat production has grown by 9.3% in 2013 to 2.3 million tonnes, which contributed to a 62% on-year growth in meat exports to 109,000 tonnes. Production continues to grow and it is expected Ukraine will export a record 150,000 tonnes of meat by the end of the year - almost two times higher than in 2012.

In recent years, domestic farmers have been able to make milk and meat production profitable and this did not happen without the assistance of the state. And today, thanks to the growth of domestic livestock production, Ukraine is able to meet the majority of its domestic demand and is moving towards substituting imports, claimed Prysyazhnyuk.

The Minister noted that, in recent years, the industry had become increasingly industrialised, with 61% of Ukrainian meat now produced on industrial livestock and poultry farms. However, the majority of the production increase was achieved as a result of foreign investment, with a record amount of foreign money spent on the development of meat production in Ukraine so far this year, he added.

The meat industry received nearly US$76 million of foreign investments during the first six months of the year, while foreign investments in the country's entire agribusiness sector reached US$152.2 million, Prysyazhnyuk said.