According to estimates from Russian analytical agency EMEAT, the volume of the Russian commercial beef market amounted to 370,100 tonnes (t) in January-April 2013 – an increase of almost 3% over the same period in 2012. However, the structure of imports changed dramatically during the same period.
“The growth of the market happened mostly due to an increase in the supply of beef from the Republic of Belarus,” explained Sergey Chernyshev, an analyst at EMEAT.
“Belarusian beef imports increased by more than 45% [in January-April], and their share of the total market increased from 9% to 13%. At the same time, imports of chilled and frozen beef from countries outside of the Customs Union fell by 5%, and their share in total Russian market declined from 45% to 41%.”
Chernyshev said that beef consumption in Russia was growing despite the high cost of beef compared to poultry and pork meat, and that beef from Belarus was relatively cheap compared to other countries.
“One of the factors contributing to the growth in imports from the Republic of Belarus and the reduction of supply from other foreign countries, in addition to the absence of quotas, is the very attractive price of Belarusian products,” said a report from EMEAT.
“According to the weekly market monitoring conducted by analytical agency EMEAT, the average prices for Belarusian chilled beef supplied to Russia in the first four months of this year amounted to USD$4.62 per kg, while for frozen it was USD$3.01 per kg. The average cost of chilled and frozen beef imported from other countries, which are traditional suppliers of this product to Russia, amounted to USD$5.60 per kg and USD$4.44 per kg respectively during this period.”