Polish meat in Asian markets

During the debate “Competition for the East – if the Polish meat industry takes advantage of chances in Asian markets”, Deputy Minister Jacek Czerniak stressed that meat and meat products were the Polish specialty and our most important export product when it came to agri-food products.

The Secretary of State informed that the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture had led to the opening of the following Asian markets:

• Philippine – for poultry meat;

• Vietnamese – for beef, duck and goose meat;

• Singapore – for beef.

Also, the conditions for exporting pork to the Singapore market have been improved.

Deputy Minister Czerniak stressed that the following issues were also at an advanced stage:

• resumption of export of poultry meat to China according to the regionalisation principle with regard to HPAI avian influenza;

• arrangements to start exporting beef to China;

• Opportunities to export poultry meat to the Korean market.

Ministry’s activities supporting the expansion of Polish meat in Asia

– The key issue for us is to support Polish entrepreneurs interested in this destination – said Deputy Minister Jacek Czerniak.

The Secretary of State informed that it was the constant practice of the MARD to submit agricultural demands for discussions of other ministries (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economic Development and Technology) with foreign partners. In relation to the selected export destinations, we also organised inter-ministerial meetings.

– Diplomatic support and high-level visits to China, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines and – recently – Vietnam had a positive impact on accelerating the access talks for Polish agri-food products – said Deputy Minister Czerniak.

Import of food from Mercosur countries – opinion of the Ministry of Agriculture

– According to the MARD, the liberalisation of access to the EU market in some sectors goes too far and results in the risk of displacing the export of Polish products from EU markets by the import from Mercosur countries. This risk applies, in particular, to the poultry sector – said Deputy Minister Czerniak.

The Secretary of State stressed that the import of food from third countries, including Mercosur, was only allowed if those products met the EU safety and quality requirements.

– The provisions of the agreement, which concern the safeguard clause, i.e. the possibility of temporary reintroduction of duties in the event of excessive import resulting in market distortions, are, in our opinion, insufficient and not adapted to the specific nature of the agricultural sector. Therefore, on 26 November 2024 the Council of Ministers adopted a resolution opposing the existing results of the negotiations on the trade part of the agreement in the area of agriculture – reminded Deputy Minister Czerniak.

Polish meat production and export

The total export value of meat and edible offal in the period of 9 months of 2024 amounted to nearly EUR 6 billion and accounted for the largest item (15%) in the total agri-food export value. We have significant production surpluses in the poultry and beef markets. To this end, the search for new outlet markets is essential for maintaining the development of these markets and ensuring the cost-effectiveness of production.

For the pork market, measures are being taken to restore domestic production affected by the African swine fever virus (ASF) and to increase self-sufficiency.

High standards of meat production in Poland and high quality of offered products is undoubtedly a competitive advantage for our products in Asian markets.

About the event

The “Polish meat industry in the competition for Asia: Will we take advantage of the chances for success?” conference was held on 6 December 2024 in Warsaw. The organiser of the event is the Union of Producers and Employers of Meat Industry (UPEMI). The conference was attended, inter alia, by entrepreneurs and leaders of the Polish meat industry and representatives of the diplomatic corps of Vietnam, the Republic of Korea and China.