Livestock production has the potential to grow by 80-120% within 1.5-2 years after the opening of foreign markets, – the head of KSG Agro
Ukrainian livestock farming has the potential to grow by 80-120% within 1.5-2 years after the opening of foreign markets and the start of exports. This is the opinion of Sergiy Kasianov, Chairman of the Board of Directors at KSG Agro quoted by the agricultural holding's press service.
According to Sergiy Kasianov, Ukrainian livestock and pig production in particular has the potential to grow by 80-120% within 1.5-2 years after the opening of foreign markets and the start of exports by domestic producers. As a result, the market for live pork sales could grow to 8-9 million heads in 2 years instead of 5 million heads.
Today, a number of Eastern European countries do not produce enough pork to meet their needs and are net importers of this type of meat. For example, Romania and Bulgaria can meet only 25-30% of their population's pork needs with their own facilities. Poland is one of the largest importers of pork (1.7 billion USD per year).
"Ukraine has both export potential and technologies and specialists, which Bulgaria and Romania, for example, do not have. And we could build pork production facilities in cooperation, create joint ventures, which is a great prospect for Ukrainian pig producers," comments Sergiy Kasianov.
In turn, KSG Agro plans to supply about 240,000 piglets to the Ukrainian market under long-term agreements in 2024, which will account for about 8% of the total Ukrainian market.
"Speaking about our experience, in the face of difficulties in exporting crop products, we logically and consciously focused on pig production at the beginning of the war," says Sergiy Kasianov. - "Due to the blockade of ports and logistical problems, grain prices in the country fell to a critical minimum. This has become a huge problem for most farmers. But for a vertically integrated holding like ours, it was an additional resource for development: pig farming has dramatically become much more profitable than crop production."
According to Sergiy Kasianov, KSG Agro has set an ambitious goal to restore the livestock in the frontline regions that were lost by agricultural enterprises as a result of the war and occupation.
"We are actively cooperating with the military administrations of the frontline regions of Dnipro, Kherson, and Mykolaiv to revive and develop the livestock industry here. Thus, based on the principle of network centricity, we diversify our risks during the war period, as we have not just one livestock site, but several in different locations. As a result, we are trying to satisfy the traditionally high demand for pork in Ukraine by ensuring uninterrupted supply of meat products to retail chains and military units," summarized the Chairman of the Board of Directors at KSG Agro.
