Per capita meat consumption increased by seven per cent to 63kg in the Russian Federation in 2008, reports Meat Russia.

Federal State Statistics Service data for 2008 show that slaughter cattle and poultry production by farms of all types in Russia was up 6.5 per cent from 2007, to 9.3 million tons. This is a slower rate of growth than the previous year.

Of all livestock slaughtered last year in Russia, 34 per cent were cattle, 33 per cent poultry, 28 per cent pigs and four per cent sheep and goats. The rest were other livestock groups. The proportion of poultry has been growing over recent years, while that of cattle has been decreasing. The same source puts meat production including by-products up by 11.6 per cent to 2.9 million tons from 2007.

Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation data indicates that fresh and frozen meat imports to Russia (excluding poultry) increased from 1.489 million tons in 2007 to 1.619 million tons in 2008. In value terms, this represents an increase of 43.4 per cent to $4.9 billion from $3.4 billion in 2007. Meat imports into Russia declined towards the end of 2008.

Slaughter poultry production grew 15 per cent in 2008 from 2007 rate and exceeded three million tons.

The leading cattle-producing states are Bashkortostan, Tatarstan and Dagestan, where cattle stocks in 2007 totalled to 1,746,400, 1,116,800 and 912,200 head, respectively, concludes the Meat Russia report.