In addition, the Institute is forecasting an increase in poultry meat prices in the Polish market, with higher export sales playing a major role in stimulating the hike, according to local market analysts.
Grzegorz Dybowski, who is responsible for researching the Polish poultry meat market at the IERiGZ, told GlobalMeatNews that between 35% and 36% of Poland’s poultry meat is intended for export to various foreign markets, and that the industry’s high competitiveness is predominantly price-driven.
"Polish poultry meat players continue to expand to foreign markets where they can sell their products for prices which are, on average, higher by between 35% and 40% than those which can be obtained in the domestic market," Dybowski said.
"We forecast that [Poland’s] poultry exports will continue to rise in the forthcoming years." Last year, Poland’s poultry meat output totalled 2.1m tonnes (t), of which 867,000t were exported.
Asked about the reasons for the continuing expansion of poultry meat consumption by Poles, the analyst said that, in addition to general market trends, efforts by the Polish government were responsible for the reported increase in poultry sales.
"There have been a number of initiatives [with the aim to promote poultry meat], and some of them, such as the Quality Assurance for Food Products (QAFP), are bringing positive results in Poland," Dybowski told GlobalMeatNews.
Last year, local poultry meat industry association KRD said that about 70% of Polish consumers recognise the QAFP logo on poultry meat products, and that about two-thirds of those polled declared they planned to buy products with this label.
Based in Poland’s capital, Warsaw, the Institute was set up in 1950. The IERiGZ said its research activities were mainly focused on agricultural production, food economy and other economic activities carried out in the country’s rural areas.