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The Deputy Minister, Yurii Melnyk told reporters that special emphasis would be put on the turkey, duck and goose sectors: ‘These [poultry breeding] sectors need more time to pay back... but the demand exists. We must put it on an industrial basis today. There will be a state support program [for poultry farmers] either for ready products or in subsidies per head.’
The Ministry has forecast that overall poultry meat production will increase by 83,000 tons or 19.2% to 515,000 tons in 2004, compared with 2003. Recent official data showed that the poultry population totalled 183,364.6 heads as of September 1, 2004 compared to the figure of 101,300 heads last year, and against 99,800 heads in August 2004. Private farms have seen a reduction in numbers, while the flocks of commercial enterprises have grown. The Ministry also announced that poultry meat prices will drop by 5-10% towards the end of 2004.
The egg sector is similarly in growth. Ministry statistics recently revealed that in 2003, egg production totalled 11,464.2 million, which was 1.4% or 154.9 million more eggs than in 2002. The Ministry is predicting an increase in the production of eggs in 2004 by between 1.7 and 4.3% (or 0.2-0.5 billion pieces) to 11.7-12 billion pieces, compared with last year.
Comments made to ‘Ukrainian News’ by Oleksandr Bakumenko, the Chairman of the board of directors of the Union of Ukrainian Poultry Breeders, echo this optimism. According to Bakumenko, the major poultry enterprises of Ukraine are planning to export nearly 20 million eggs to Russia in 2005, and to break into the EU market.
Other news on the sector presented by Mr Baumenko is that producers could be increasing their requirements for feed grain over the next few months. He said that the Poultry Union may purchase as much as 100,000 tonnes of feed grain from State Joint Stock Company, Khlib Ukrainy. According to his estimates, the poultry breeding enterprises of Ukraine use 800,000 tonnes of feed grain annually, 35 % of which is wheat, another 35 % maize and 10 % barley. |
