Significant agricultural establishments, the main producers of Russian broilers, increased production by 15.5 per cent, to 2.14 MMT, on a live weight basis, in the first half of 2012. As a result, FAS/Moscow forecasts broiler imports to remain flat in 2013 after anticipated growth of 3 per cent in 2012 (due to an increase in substitution of broiler meat for more expensive pork and beef), when compared to 2011.

Nearly all of Russia’s exports of broiler products consist of chicken paws to Asia. However, Russia exported $29.2 million worth of poultry meat and offal to its Customs Union (CU) partners (i.e., $27.4 million to Kazakhstan and $1.8 million to Belarus) in January-May 2012.

FAS/Moscow’s import forecast for broiler meat in 2012 was increased by 3.0 per cent to 515,000 MTs due to a significant increase in imports from Ukraine (which grew from 5,171 MT in January-June 2011 to 7,430 MT in January-June 2012) and a higher volume 2012 broiler TRQ (which will increase from 350,000 MT in 2011 to 364,000 MT in 2012). Moreover, FAS/Moscow forecasts Russian broiler imports to grow another 3.0 per cent in 2013, as a result of growing duty free and quota-free imports from Ukraine and Belarus.

According to Global Trade Atlas (GTA), Russia imported 191,245 MT of broiler products in January - June 2012, a 17 per cent increase over the same period in 2011.

Given the increase in domestic production, it is anticipated that domestic production will satisfy the needs of the Russian consumers. In fact, it is expected that domestic production, plus imports equivalent to the Russian poultry import TRQ volume (i.e., 330,000 MT which is anticipated to be fully utilized), plus the 70,000 MT of poultry meat already imported from CU member-countries (mainly Belarus) this year, will exceed the needs of the country. The volume of poultry available in the Russian market is expected to increase price competition within the country which may, in turn, encourage poultry exports.

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