Estonia imports poultry meat to satisfy domestic demand

Poultry meat output in Estonia has been increasing steadily over recent years but it continues to lag behind demand.

Poultry meat output in Estonia has been increasing steadily over recent years but it continues to lag behind demand. According to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) in a new review of the sector, Estonia is around 60 percent self-sufficient in poultry meat.

FAS estimates Estonian poultry meat production at 19,800 metric tons (mt) in 2015, 2 percent more than the previous year, and forecasts a further increase for this year. This is based on growing domestic demand and relatively low feed prices.

Annual per-capita consumption of chicken reached 24.6 kg in 2015, around 5 percent more than the previous year.

To meet growing demand, Estonia imported 6 percent more poultry meat in 2015 than in 2014. Of the total, 19,259 mt, most imports were in the form of chicken portions and offals, and Lithuania was the leading source of imports. Based on trends for the first nine months of 2016, Estonian imports could be up this year by as much as 12 percent from the 2015 level.

In 2015, Estonia exported 9,174 mt of poultry meat, with Latvia, Lithuania and Finland the main destinations for its products. Small amounts also went to Hong Kong and Vietnam.

Estonia’s top broiler, egg companies

According to FAS, Estonia’s top poultry meat companies include Tallegg. It has six broiler farms, a hatchery and four breeder farms near to the capital city, Tallinn, and a new farm in West Viru county came into production in 2013 with a capacity of 224,000 birds. The increased production supported investment in a new processing plant in Tabuasalu, which is part of Finland-based HKScan Corporation. This facility has a capacity of 20,000 mt per year of Tallegg fresh chicken products, smoked poultry products, marinated and oven products destined for all Baltic markets.

Within the last month, HKScan has begun an internal investigation into its Baltic business, which is based in Estonia. Aims of the investigation are to ensure that the principles of good corporate governance and the company’s Code of Conduct have been followed.

In the egg sector, Dava Foods is among the leading egg processing companies in Estonia, according to FAS. Under the brand name, Scanegg, it is the top supplier of egg products on the domestic market and is also growing exports to Latvia and Lithuania. The company has a farm with up to 330,000 hens near Tallinn, and processes 7,500 mt of eggs each year for Baltic and Nordic countries.

According to the statistics department of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAOstat), shell egg production in Estonia reached 11,800 mt in 2013, the most recent year for which figures have been published. 

Page 1 of 33
Next Page