Armed conflict in Ukraine affects largest meat producers
According to unconfirmed reports, the fighting so far has stopped work at six industrial poultry farms, three industrial pig farms, two meat-processing complexes and four feed mills. Dozens of small farms have also been completely destroyed. Also, as a result of the fighting, infrastructure has been significantly damaged, with harm caused to many warehouses and grain storages.
"Due to active hostilities in Shahtersk in the Donetsk region, from 1 August we were forced to temporarily suspend operations on the farm Miner Nova," announced MHP, the largest poultry producer in the country, recently.
Miner Nova produces incubation eggs and covers about 30% of the company’s needs. It supplies three other poultry farms - ‘Friendship of Peoples Nova’, ‘Orel Leader’ and ‘Peremoga Nova’ – with incubation eggs, and MHP has said it will be forced to import incubation eggs from Europe, which could increase the cost of producing poultry meat.
APK-Invest, the largest pork producer in the country, is also suffering, according to senior figures at the firm.
"Following an attack by Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) militants, APK-Invest closed its logistics warehouse in Makeyevka," said Boris Kolesnikov, owner of APK-Invest. "It is very hard to work. If Conti [the sister company that does not produce meat], which does not have perishable goods, can apologise to workers and send them on a free vacation, then there are big concerns about the livestock business. The situation is very difficult."
Poultry company Avangardco, one of the world’s largest eggs producers, has faced similar problems. Its Uglegorsky feed mill has been captured by the rebels and will probably be used to create a reference point, according to the company’s representatives. The plant supplied fodder for poultry farms in three regions of the country.
"The fights often take place on the territory of feed mills and livestock farms," said Vladislav Cerezo, a representative from the anti-terrorist operation. "According to our information just last week, as a result of fighting, the Donetsk feed mill has caught fire and has been severely damaged. To assess the damage to these enterprises is not within our control and probably cannot be done now."
However, according to official statistics, the volume of meat production in Ukraine is growing, despite the war conflict.
In a report from the country’s State Statistics Committee, the production of fresh or chilled poultry during the first half of the year increased by 7.1% compared to January-June 2013 – up to 351,000 tonnes (t). The volume of production of fresh or chilled pork in January-June of 2014 rose by 13.4% compared to the same period of 2013 and amounted to 111,000t. It also reported that, in the first half of the year, the volume of production of fresh or chilled beef fell by 4.4% to 25,400t.
