Russia supplied nearly 300,000 tons of poultry meat to foreign markets for $427.2 million last year, up 31% from 2019, the Agriculture Ministry's Center for Agricultural Analysis said.

At the moment, the country's domestic needs for poultry meat are fully met, and the industry itself has high export potential, said Dmitry Avletsov, head of the center.

At the same time, according to him, now about 6% of the total volume of poultry meat in the country is sent to foreign markets. Therefore, the increase in export shipments may serve as one of the main market drivers this year.

Growing demand for meat around the world and the opening of new markets will allow Russia to expand the geography of its overseas shipments.

Aveltsev also voiced one of the main problems of the industry - high dependence on imported breeding material. He explained that about 3bn hatching eggs of meat chickens are required every year to load the country's poultry farms. Most are produced in Russia from breeding stock purchased abroad.

Poultry breeders purchase around 7 million day-old chicks and 766 million hatching eggs each year abroad.

Nowadays Russian breeders are developing a hybrid of meat chickens that can serve as a replacement for the imported material.

Made in Russia // Made in Russia

Author: Ksenia Gustova