Ref. Ares(2022)6582733 - 23/09/2022
Out of scope
Commissioner Wojciechowski meeting AVEC and COPACOGECA representatives on 23 June
Participants:
AVEC: Personal data
COPA-COGECA: Personal data
Commissioner’s Cabinet: Personal data
DG AGRI Personal data
AVEC, with the support of COPA-COGECA, had requested a meeting to express their views with
regard to the potential impact on the EU poultry market of the 1 year trade liberalization with
Ukraine.
They started by expressing full support for Ukraine and EU actions. They highlighted the following
challenges for the EU market:
- Suffering from surging feed and energy costs difficult to pass down the chain, in particular in the
horeca sector that is supplied by cheaper imports;
- Ukraine poultry production- mostly located in central and western part of the country- has been
largely unaffected by the war and can ramp up production quickly;
- Total trade liberalization is making UA poultry even more competitive now that the war’s impact
on grains (blocked maritime trade) is generating low production costs for UA poultry linked to
high feed availability.
- Blocked Black Sea ports also mean that quantities traditionally supplied to the Middle
East/Africa is diverted towards the EU by trucks;
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- UA poultry production works according to a different model than in the EU: 91% of its industrial
production is owned by 6 companies; the biggest one is MHP which provides 90% of exports to
the EU. It can export 1,000 t chicken per day; 38 chicken houses where one farm has 2 mil ion
chickens; 400,000 ha in land.
COPA COGECA equal y expressed concerns about the situation. With the same support for EU
actions for Ukraine, they agreed to the need for close monitoring of Ukrainian imports and pleaded
for a quick intervention in case of serious disturbance on the market.
Both organisations underlined that UA has not yet ful y completed its approximation of laws, in
particular on animal welfare, and is therefore stil working under lower standards than the EU.
Commissioner Wojciechowski thanked for al the detailed explanations on the situation. He
underlined the need to help Ukraine. He assured that the Commission would keep a close look into
developments of UA poultry imports and their impact on the EU market.
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