About 64.8% of the Polish production was earmarked for the domestic market, while the remaining 35.2%, or 279,000t, was intended for export sales. The European Union is currently the largest market for Poland’s poultry, with as much as 90% of the country’s production sold in its member states. Turkey meat accounts for about 15% of the country’s total poultry production.
From January to June 2013, Poland imported about 20,000t of poultry. The 534,000t sold in the Polish market represented an increase of 3.7% over the same period a year earlier, according to data released by the Institute. Moreover, in the second half of 2013, the report forecasts that Poland’s poultry production will increase further by 7% compared with the same period last year.
For the first half of 2014, the Institute’s report forecasts a 7.5% increase in the country’s poultry production which is expected to reach about 850,000t.
The rise in poultry consumption in Poland is accompanied by a continuing decline in pork consumption which still remains the country’s most popular meat, according to data from the country’s Central Statistical Office (GUS). In 2012, an average Pole consumed about 26.1kg of poultry, up 4.4% over 2011, and 39.2kg of pork, a decrease of 7.8%.
Consumption of beef, at about 1.6kg per person, was down 23.8% compared with 2011. In total, an average Pole consumed some 71kg of meat in 2012, which represented a decrease of 3.3% from a year earlier, according to the GUS.
Should the Institute’s forecast for 2014 prove to be correct, next year, an average Pole will consume 27.5kg of poultry, an increase of 2% compared with 2013.
Based in Warsaw, Poland, the IERiGZ was established in 1950. The Institute’s research activities are focused on agricultural production, food economy and economic activities in Poland’s rural areas.