Polish food exports up despite Russian pork embargo
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
26.05.2014 11:24
Poland's Agricultural Market Agency (ARR) has revealed that Polish food exports are up 7 percent in the first quarter of 2014, in spite of blocks on Polish pork by Russia and other countries.
Photo: sxc.hu
Photo: sxc.hu
The 7 percent rise compared with the same period in 2013 is welcome news for Poland's food industry, coupled with Ukraine's decision to reopen its market to Polish pork on 28 May.
Several non-EU countries, including China, Japan and South Korea, followed Russia's example of blocking imports of Polish pork in February after African Swine Fever (ASF) was detected in wild boar near Poland's border with Belarus.
“Export results are slightly better than we expected,” commented Wieslaw Łopaciuk of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics, although he acknowledged that exports of red meat are down.
Some 80 percent of all Polish food exports in the first quarter of 2014 were to other EU member states, and sales exceeded 5 billion euros.
In 2013, Russia was the third biggest importer of Polish foodstuffs, behind Germany and the UK. Overall, 2013 was a record year for Polish food exports, with sales reaching 19.9 billion euros. (nh)
Source: PAP