The company expects poultry exports to rise in line with the firm’s overall increase in production capacity, as export supplies are currently an attractive proposition for the company in terms of price.
“We plan to increase poultry meat [export sales] by 25-30%. We will also export soybean oil,” said Kapelyushnaya. “This year the company has continued to increase export sales revenue, which amounted to US$406 million, or 45% of the company’s total revenue, for the first nine months of this year compared to US$233m or 37% of total revenue for the comparable period in 2014.”
However, this rise in revenue take place against the backdrop of a slight decrease in export volumes, which stood at 100,600t for January-September 2015, compared to 102,145t in the same period of 2014, according to the company’s official statistics. By the end of the year, export volumes are expected to reach 140,000t, while in 2014 they amounted to 140,920t. However, in 2016, they could reach 175,000t-180,000t.
Company milestone
By the end of 2015, the company is on course to produce 580,000t of poultry meat, while next year this figure is expected to rise to 600,000t-620,000t, pretty much reflecting the rate of the projected rise in export sales. According to Kapelyushnaya, one of the important milestones for the company in 2016 will be to open up poultry supplies to Saudi Arabia.
“MHP plans to obtain permits and launch deliveries of poultry meat to Saudi Arabia at the beginning of 2016. We hope to get a decision within the next two months and supply the market with 10,000t of poultry next year,” she said. She also noted that the company’s export potential is much bigger, as it has the potential to supply large amounts of poultry to the European Union (EU).
'Limited' EU potential
“For us, the long-term potential supply to the [EU] market is at least 100,000t. But so far, that potential is limited due to the low quota imposed by the European Commission of 16,000t of Ukrainian poultry per year,” she explained.
Next year the company intends to start construction work on the second stage of its Vinitsia poultry farm. Within the next few years this will allow MHP to boost production volumes to an additional 130,000t of poultry per year. When it reaches full production capacity, it is believed the Vinitsia farm will be the biggest poultry production facility in Europe.