Poultry to account for half of Ukrainians' meat diet in 2018 – expert

Poultry meat in 2018 will account for about 50% of Ukrainians' meat diet due to households' low purchasing power and more competitive retail prices of chicken compared to those of beef and pork.

Read alsoUkraine seeks to supply eggs, poultry to Malaysia – mediaSenior research associate of the pricing and agrarian market department at the National Scientific Center "Institute of Agrarian Economy" Svitlana Pashko forecasts consumption of beef and pork in 2018 may decrease. Among the main causes are an ongoing reduction in the cattle stock, frequent African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks, domestic price trends, and the low purchasing power of the population, she said.

"According to rough estimates for 2017, the share of poultry in the structure of meat consumption by Ukrainians remains the most significant, that is 48%, exceeding the rational norms almost by 1.5 times, while pork accounts for 37%, beef for a mere 14%, and other types of meat for 1% of the meat ration," the Center's press service quoted Pashko as saying.

The expert noted that an average retail price of poultry carcasses in December 2017 was UAH 53.91 (almost US$2) per kilogram, while that of pork cuts with bones (sirloin chops) stood at UAH 93.00 (about $3.4) per kilogram, and boneless pork at UAH 113.46 (over $4) per kilogram.

In the same month, hips cuts of beef cost UAH 92.18 (about $3.4) per kilogram on the average, whereas the price of boneless beef was UAH 117.77 (about $4.3) per kilogram.

"On the average, prices of beef and pork were by 1.7-2.2 times higher than those of chicken carcasses. Such a price gap caused an increase in the consumption of poultry meat," Pashko explained.

As UNIAN reported earlier, meat production in Ukraine in 2017 totaled 3.26 million tonnes (live weight), which was 0.4% down from 2016, according to State Statistics Service of Ukraine.