Russian meat processor Cherkizovo has seen poultry sales slow during the third quarter of 2010.
The London-listed group today (26 October) posted a 6% rise in poultry sales volumes to 146,830 tonnes for the first nine months of the year. During the first six months of 2010, Cherkizovo’s poultry volumes had risen 8%.
The growth in the processor’s pork volumes also slowed during the third quarter. Pork sales volumes were up 51% to 53,900 tonnes between January and the end of September but during the first half of the year volumes had risen 75%.
Cherkizovo’s third division, meat processing, saw sales volumes grow by 8% to 102,870 tonnes during the first nine months of the year, matching the rate of growth seen in the first half.
CEO Sergey Mikhailov said Cherkizovo had “performed strongly across all segments” during the first nine months of 2010 and noted that the company expected to meet its production targets for the year.
However, he added: “At present the operating environment remains challenging, as a result of the worse than expected grain harvest and subsequent grain shortage. We are now witnessing a short-term effect of oversupply of meat in the market as less efficient producers and individual households are cutting down livestock, creating a temporary downward pressure on selling prices.
“However, in the medium term these actions will potentially lead to a shortage of supply and to more aggressive meat price inflation in 2011.”
