COVID-19 fallout “The COVID pandemic disrupted the supply chains and many producers were suddenly faced with huge, unprecedented challenges. As the biggest poultry producer in the EU, Poland suffered greatly as a result of the lockdown. As much as 50% of our production was exported to over 100 countries world- wide and many orders were cancelled,” explained Goszczyn- ski. The situation was further aggravated by the turmoil in the domestic hospitality segment, causing a full-scale oversupply crisis. “Meat intended for export was stored in freezers but the available space was very limited. The resulting domino effect impacted not only the processing plants, but breeders too. The prices of broilers started to drop below cost price. Despite all of this, the European Commission did not launch any aid schemes and the poultry sector was left to fend for itself. Luckily the situation is now slowly returning to normal but the industry will be affected by the aftermath of this year’s AI epidemic and COVID pandemic for a long time,” Goszczynski added.
During the turbulent first six months of 2020 there was some relief for Polish meat exporters due to the devaluation of the national currency. “Despite the restrictions introduced on in- ternational trade, the value of Polish meat exports in the peri- od from January to April 2020 reached a level of € 2.1 billion,
similar to that of the previous year. This was due to the strong depreciation of the zloty against the euro and the US dollar,” the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) press office told Poultry World. “With a 38% share in the total value of meat exports, poultry- meat is by far Poland’s largest agricultural export commodity. We do not have the data for May and June, but fewer orders from the EU hospitality sector may negatively affect the total value of foreign sales by Polish poultry producers,” the PAIH press office added. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the Polish poultry industry really hard – the slump in sales on the do- mestic market was the worst among all European countries. However, the industry is likely to bounce back quickly, as shown by a study conducted by the Polish consultancy Crédit Agricole. “The worsening economic conditions of households will contribute to a growth in demand and better prices for poultry, as it will replace pork on people’s tables.”
Exports still promising In 2019, Polish producers increased both the poultry export volume and its value by 11%. At € 3.1 billion, the poultry in- dustry was one of the more buoyant sectors of the Polish economy. “EU member states, such as Germany, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, are the main buyers of Polish
▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 8, 2020 7
After six hard months the Pol- ish poultry sec- tor is back on track, aiming for further growth.
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