Russian pig farmers expect serious competition in the Chinese market

ROSSELKHOZNADZOR is consistently and systematically working to open the Chinese market. To begin deliveries, the parties need to draw up a bilateral veterinary certificate, and for this, Russian enterprises need to undergo certification, the Agroexport Federal State Budgetary Institution said in a statement. Experts expect that they will be able to occupy up to 10% of the Chinese market, but they will have to face serious competition.

At the moment, pig-breeding enterprises in regions where no outbreaks of ASF have been recorded for a year are being studied by the Chinese delegation, General DIRECTOR of the National Union of Pig Breeders Yuri Kovalev told FSBI Agroexport . According to the expert, in RUSSIA today more than 80% of pork exports come from 5 companies, and all of them, like many others, are interested in obtaining the right to supply to the Chinese market.

At the same time, the expert noted that opening this EXPORT route is important for the entire industry as a whole, as it will help avoid overproduction of pork within the country and continue the course for the development of the industry. 

“For ourselves, we set a goal to develop about 10% of the Chinese import market in the next few years. Even though CHINA has recovered its pork production after falling in 2019-2020, it will still import 2.5-3 million tons of pork products per year. <...> Of course, there will be tougher competition in China than in Vietnam, where Russia has achieved significant success in conquering the market. In Vietnam, Russia has an advantage - it is a free trade zone that allows the supply of pork duty-free. In China we will be on an equal footing, and in some places, perhaps on more difficult terms, competing with other exporting countries, but we are ready for this,” commented Yuri Kovalev.