UPPA says by 2017, 50 countries will be buying imported Ukrainian poultry meat

Domestic poultry output is growing year by year, says Bakumenko, noting that 2103 would see an increase of 150,000 tonnes, nearly 15%. Today, Ukraine ranks 9^th in the world in poultry production volumes and hopes to be among the top ten exporters of broiler meat. Currently, Ukraine supplies chicken meat to nearly 30 countries worldwide, including CIS countries, Iran, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and others.

“I predict that by 2017 this number will go up to 50,” Bakumenko says. “Recently, Ukraine began exporting chicken meat to EU countries. The first batch, 20 t, was shipped to the Netherlands. The signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU will make it possible for domestic producers to export up to 40,000 t of chicken meat a year at zero customs duty.”

Bakumenko noted that, for the last seven years, Ukrainian poultry producers had undergone prolonged testing procedures with every EU food safety and quality control organization, and passed all the tests successfully.

The UPPA president also said that Ukrainian poultry producers had enough competitive advantages. “The competition on European markets doesn’t scare us,” he said, citing as the key advantage a vertically-integrated production cycle, which means companies have their own sources of live poultry, farms and slaughter houses, distribution systems and so on. “You won’t find this kind of integration in other countries. Bakumenko noted that experts from such major poultry-producing countries as Brazil and the US were coming to Ukraine and looking to adopt domestic production methods.

Source: polemika.com.ua

Tags: poultry, export