On the news that Russia would lift the ban to import Polish meat, stock of listed producers jumped. PKM Duda shares traded 9 percent up, while BeefSan 7 percent up. When the ban was implemented in 2005, Polish exports to Russia were worth EUR 33m, just a fraction of all exports amounting to EUR 1.1bn. Nevertheless, Polish producers were enthusiastic about the news.
“This is very good news. We waited two years to hear it”, Andrzej Pawelczak from Animex said.
Representatives of the sector admit, however, that lifting the ban does not mean a jump in income.
“This is good news but it’s hard to estimate how it will influence the situation of our producers”, Witold Choinski, CEO of the Polish Meat Association said.
When Russia put the ban in 2005, it was Poland’s second market as far as agricultural and food products are concerned. It used to buy goods worth EUR 0.5bn. A year later, it spend EUR 73m less, including EUR 39m less for meat. Poland, however, increased sales to EU countries (by 25 percent), USA, Norway, Romania or China. In effect, Russia dropped to the fifth ranking among Poland’s biggest partners.
“It doesn’t matter how big the Polish exports to Russia are. Russia is a huge market with 150m consumers and is our natural trade partner. Poland has a chance to be among five biggest exporters”, Andrzej Pawelczak said.
Experts hope that Belarus will follow the suit of
Russia.