Russia aims to be leading pig producer

09-07-2009 | Home | News

Russian pig producers have established an industry association – National Union of Pig Producers that should make Russia a world leading pig producer.

By Evegen Vorotnikov
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Until now the pig producers have not had a non-commercial industry organisation of their own to back economic interests of one of most dynamic sectors of the animal production.
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Pork production increased
According to the National Meat Union, in 2008 the pork production in Russia increased by 8% accounting for 2 million tonnes. The pork and by-products import, including pig fat, was at the level of 1,2 – 1,3 million tonnes. According to the data from specialists, over 5 months of 2009 the dynamics of the domestic pork production has retained the 8% increase. According to Federal Customs Service, over 4 months of 2009 meat imports have shrunk -17,6 % comparing with the same period of 2008.
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A number of non-commercial organisations have already been active in Russia, uniting representatives of the meat industry. They are the Meat Union, Rosptitsesoyuz (Russian Poultry Union), the National Meat Association, the Association of Russian Poultry Market Operators. As to the pig producers, which have been remarkably dynamic in the last few years, they have not had an organisation of their own. Yesterday the situation changed. The representatives of more than 100 pig production holdings and farms, and also mid-sized and small businesses agreed on establishing a National Union of Pig Producers.
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The new association is setting a number of goals including the following:
To overcome a lag in the pig production in some of the Russian regions ; to provide fast pace pig production based on the state-of-the-art technologies and foreign experience; to aim at a stage by stage decrease of the pork import, and to make the pork available for citizens of all incomes.
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But the main aim of the Union still is to make Russia a world leader in high-quality pork production.