Poultry meat export from Ukraine in 2021 grew to another highest

In January-December 2021, the position of Ukrainian meat products on the international market strengthened through increased chicken exports, the National Scientific Center Institute of Agrarian Economics reports.

Another record of poultry meat exports was set in 2021 — 459,000 t. The dollar value worth of meat exported soared by 29%, to USD 716 mln, comments Bohdan Dukhnytskyi, PhD in economics, senior research associate of the Agricultural Production Economy and International Integration Department of the Institute.

In 12M 2021, Ukraine managed to increase exports of meat and co-products by 30% to USD 846 mln. In addition to growth in external supplies of poultry meat, the frozen beef segment also expanded.

Last year, diversification of sales of Ukrainian meat and co-products was observed, the expert marks. Now Ukrainian meat products are exported to the countries of the Middle East, other parts of Asia, the European Union, the CIS countries and Africa. The share of the EU countries in total exports summed 24%.

"A remarkable feature of the year 2021 is the further reinforcement of Saudi Arabia's position among the largest importing countries. In 2020, this country was first ranked the major importer of Ukrainian chicken meat," states Bohdan Dukhnytskyi.

He noted that Saudi Arabia purchases solely poultry meat from Ukraine. It made its first purchase in 2015, and already in 2020, the export of Ukrainian poultry meat to the country amounted to 83,000 t worth USD 136 mln. Last year Saudi Arabia imported 101 thou. t of Ukrainian meat products worth USD 190 mln, increasing its share in Ukraine's total exports to 22.5%.

"The Netherlands, which topped the ranking in 2017-19, now hold the second position with a 16.1% share, having imported around 58,000 t of Ukrainian meat worth USD 136 mln," the expert adds.

Other markets for Ukrainian poultry meat are China (7.2%), the UAE (4.7%), Slovakia (4.7%), Azerbaijan (3.9%), Belarus (3.6%) and Kazakhstan (3.5%). In total, these countries generated 2/3 of revenues from Ukraine's meat sales on the global market.

"Ukrainian exporters did not make chicken deliveries to the European Union from those regions of our country where avian influenza (bird flu) had appeared, but it had no significant impact on the final results," notes Bohdan Dukhnytskyi.

In 2020, poultry meat exports from Ukraine totalled 431 thou. t.