Challenges facing the chicken industry in the Ukraine were detailed in the USDA-FAS GAIN report UP2021-0031 released in early September. According to the FAS, production in 2021 will attain 1.36 million metric tons of which 31 percent (430,000 metric tons) will be exported. The country will import 135,000 metric tons representing nine percent of domestic production. Consumption will attain 1.065 million metric tons equivalent to a per capita consumption of 105 lbs., three percent less than in 2020.
Of total chicken consumption, 86 percent is represented by commercial broilers with 11 percent from subsistence and backyard chicken. The remainder is supplied from depleted breeders and spent hens.
The largest domestic producer is MHP SE with over 70 percent of the market. This domination follows the bankruptcy of Agromars, the second largest producer complex. Five mid-sized companies with market share ranging from 1 to 6 percent each represent current competition to MHP SE. Integration in the Ukraine extends into crop production comprising an important stabilizing factor in the cost of production.
In 2020, exports to the E.U. were restrained by tariff rate quotas and also sporadic outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza that prevented shipments in January and March, 2021. COVID lockdowns restricted the sale of chicken in open markets, seriously impacting Agromars and the smaller chicken producers.