Russian Demand Could Be Met If Incentives in Place

TURKEY - The Turkish poultry sector will have no difficulty in meeting an anticipated 60,000 tons of demand from Russia for poultry products provided that price incentives are introduced by the government, Ömer Görener, the CEO of Banvit, one of Turkey’s leading poulterers, has said.

29 January 2010

3 minute read

Europe

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency on Thursday, Mr Görener said Turkey will be able to export around 60,000 tons of poultry to Russia but that the government should eliminate its “price disadvantage” with incentives.

According to Mr Görener, the Turkish poultry sector needs subsidies so as to sell poultry to the Russian market at “favorable prices.” He said Russia would offer a lower price for poultry imports than Turkish exporters had planned for and that the government should compensate for this gap with extra financial support.

“EU countries, for instance, provide their poultry producers with a 400 euro subsidy per ton of poultry exports to Russia. This gives the producers the opportunity to maintain their competitive power in the market," said Mr Görener who added that Russia mostly purchased chicken legs from Turkey.

He said increased imports to Russia would not affect poultry prices in the Turkish domestic market.

Today's Zaman reports that following reports on Russia’s intent to seek an increase in poultry imports from Turkey to 500,000 tons for 2010, sector representatives said meeting demand to this extent was not possible. Mr Görener thinks Russia’s poultry imports from Turkey will not exceed 60,000 tons this year. “Turkey has enough capacity to increase its poultry production without any need for new investment. What we are concerned about is whether the government will introduce any subsidies to help us overcome a price handicap,” he noted.

Noting that they have monitored the latest developments in the market closely, Mr Görener said his company planned taking further initiatives to expand their presence in the Russian market. Banvit is one of the six Turkish poulterers from which Russia currently imports.

As regards the expectations for exports, he said Turkish poultry exports could increase to 150,000 tons this year from 80,000 tons in 2009. Mr Görener said they anticipated this amount could approach 200,000 by the end of 2011.