Foreign investment boosts Ukraine meat production
Mykola Prysyazhnyuk, Ukraine’s Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food, reported that meat production has grown by 9.3% in 2013 to to 2.3m tonnes (t), which contributed to a 62% year-on-year growth in meat exports to 109,000t. Production continues to grow and it is expected Ukraine will export a record 150,000t of meat by the end of the year – almost two times higher than in 2012.
“In recent years, domestic farmers have been able to make milk and meat production profitable. Of course, this did not happen without the assistance of the state. And today, thanks to the growth of domestic livestock production, Ukraine is able to meet the majority of its domestic demand and is moving towards substituting imports,” claimed Prysyazhnyuk.
The Minister noted that, in recent years, the industry had become increasingly industrialised, with 61% of Ukranian meat now produced on industrial livestock and poultry farms. However, he added that the majority of the production increase was achieved as a result of foreign investment, with a record amount of foreign money spent on the development of meat production in Ukraine so far this year.
According to Prysyazhnyuk, the meat industry received nearly US$76m of foreign investments during the first six months of the year, while foreign investments in the country’s entire agribusiness sector reached US$152.2m.
