According to the National Chamber of Poultry and Feed Producers (KIPDiP), Polish poultry producers are increasingly focused on duck breeding, intending to raise the production performance to a record level in 2022.
The duck population in Poland is expected to reach 25-27 million heads in 2022, which is by 40-50% more than in 2021. Ten years ago it was 3.2 million heads.
“It’s a cosmic growth rate,” said Katarzyna Gavronska, Director of KIPDiP, talking about the fact that Poland ranks third in duck meat production in Europe, behind France and Hungary.
According to the forecasts, this year’s growth will push Poland to the second place in this list. “In the past, there were months when we slaughtered more ducks than Hungary,” Gavronska said. “Given current trends in Polish duck meat production, we forecast that Poland will beat Hungary in duck meat production.”
She also said that in 2021 France produced 177,000 t of duck meat, compared to 90,000 t in Hungary, 57,000 t in Poland and 20,000 t in Germany and Bulgaria.
KIPDiP said that the strong growth rate of the duck meat production was connected with the huge export demand for duck meat (mainly in Europe), outbreaks of avian influenza in France (including the duck farms), and slow but systematic changes in the culinary habits of the Polish consumers who began using duck meat as a part of their food basket.
Polish duck meat market managed to recover after the Covid-19 pandemic. KIPDiP said in 2020 that the quarantine wave slowed down the duck meat sales both in the domestic and the export markets, primarily through the HoReCa segment. The sudden drop in sales affected the duck meat sale prices and undermined the profitability of the Polish duck farms.
In 2021, however, the duck meat market’s financial situation has improved considerably.
According to the Central Statistical Office of Poland, the Polish duck meat export grows faster than in any other livestock sector. For example, the total volume of sales to foreign buyers was 46 million Euro in 2020, including Germany (46% of export), the United Kingdom (11%), France (7%), Lithuania (6%), Czech Republic (6%), Denmark (6%), Romania (5%) and Estonia (5%), the Central Statistical Office of Poland also added.
Source: www.meatinfo.ru