Poland remains the leader of the EU poultry market, but next year promises to be a time of intense struggle to maintain this position.
Last year, the Polish poultry industry produced 3.2 million tons of poultry meat, and according to the National Poultry Council (KRD-IG), this year it will be 5-6 percent more, which confirms the dominance of Polish production in Europe. Export is also growing. Last year, Poland sent 1.8 million tons of poultry abroad, and the forecasted increase in exports at 9% is also the result of dynamic expansion into new markets.
Beeld: © A.Murawska
Polish poultry in Asia
This year, the Philippine market was opened, which from January to October has already received around 25 thousand tons of Polish poultry meat. Another priority is to conclude negotiations with China.
Since 2020, Polish exports to China have been frozen due to the lack of agreements on the regionalization of bird flu. The situation changed in June this year, when China accepted the validity of regionalization and the technical arrangements were planned to be finalized by the end of 2024.
The November visit of Chinese inspectors to Poland was an important step in this process. The industry is currently waiting for the final report, and the Ministry of Agriculture has already invited the Chinese side to sign documents opening this prospective market.
However, Poland's export ambitions go further. The opening of the South Korean market is gaining momentum - two weeks ago, Polish plants hosted local inspectors. A positive assessment may allow for the export of as many as 30 companies. At the same time, talks are underway with Japan to expand the range of products exported to this market.
However, further challenges appear on the horizon: competition with Ukraine and the Mercosur countries.
Beeld: © A.Murawska
Mercosur
Brazil, a member of Mercosur, is a global leader in poultry exports and continues to strengthen its position as a poultry hegemon. Brazil offers poultry meat at prices that are unattainable for European producers.
The additional quota of 180 thousand tons of poultry provided for in the agreement with the Mercosur countries may seem at first glance to be an amount that will not be devastating for the market, but it can be compared to the combined production of Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Already today, 25% of chicken breast meat in the European Union is imported from non-EU countries. If we add the quota provided for in the agreement with Mercosur, it will be a total of about 1.1 million tons, and these are already very large quantities, posing a significant threat to the stability of the EU market.
Ukraine
The second challenge is Ukraine, whose exports in 2023 amounted to 425 thousand tons (+3%), 70% of which came from one giant - the MHP company.
Ukraine, which, although formally limited by autonomous trade measures (ATM), still has an advantage due to low production costs. Until June next year, the limit on the import of Ukrainian poultry is 137 thousand tons. tons – that is 32% more than the average import before 2022. However, the question of what will happen after the expiry of the ATM in the middle of next year remains unanswered. The Polish poultry industry is counting on the return of the 90 thousand tons limit, which was in force until 2021. The Ukrainian model based on agroholdings is incomparable to EU farms. In his opinion, even if Ukraine implements animal welfare standards and the principles of sustainable production, mass scale and lower costs will still give it an advantage. As a result, Polish producers will find themselves under price pressure that will be difficult to cope with.
Source: Puls biznesu