Last year, exports dropped as a result of Poland’s trade disputes with Russia and the spread of the African swine fever (ASF) in some parts of the country, but this year, local meat industry players improved their sales to foreign markets.
In the first four months of this year, the reported growth was mostly driven by increased sales to the EU markets, which rose by 27% to some 108,200t.
This said, restrictions were placed on Polish unprocessed pork meat by Russia and some other Asian countries following last year’s outbreak of ASF. As a result, Poland’s exports to non-EU markets were down by about 42% to a total of 20,400t in the January-April 2015 period.
Italy and Germany
Italy and Germany both increased their imports of Polish unprocessed pork meat, up 25% each, while exports to the UK nearly doubled to 4,900t in the first four months of 2015.
The US imported 7,400t from Poland, which represented an increase of 69%, and allowed the country to become the largest importer of Polish unprocessed pork meat outside of the EU.
In the first four months of 2015, some 4,900t of unprocessed pork meat were exported from Poland to the UK, which doubled the result from the same period a year earlier, as indicated by figures from the ministry.
On a related note, commenting on the latest data released by the ministry, analysts from local bank BGZ BNP Paribas said that, “taking into consideration the changes in exports and imports [of pork meat], Poland remains a net importer of unprocessed pork meat. The country’s trade deficit increased in the analysed period by 1,800t to 85,000t.”
Unprocessed pork exports
While the country managed to raise its exports of unprocessed pork meat from January to April 2015, its imports also rose by 4.8% to some 213,500t.
Some of the major exporters of unprocessed pork meat to Poland from within the EU include Belgium, Germany and Denmark, respectively. The three countries combined are responsible for about 72% of the country’s imports of unprocessed pork meat.
Meanwhile, local analysts suggest that Poland’s pork meat consumption will further increase this year. In 2014, the country’s pork meat consumption rose by 8.4% to 38.5kg per capita, compared with some 35.5kg a year earlier.
This year, an average Pole is expected to consume 39.5kg of pork meat, according to the latest estimates from the country’s Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics (IERiGZ).