The section Russian Meat presents analysis of the situation on the pork market. Agriculture Minister A. V. Gordeyev declared 2005 to be the Year of Pig. But despite the ministry's taking a long, hard look at this sector of livestock farming, the numbers of swine are still in decline.
The global exports of pork are expected to increase in 2005 by 2% to reach 4.6 mln tonnes, imports are set to grow up to 6% above the 2004 level. For more details in pork trade go to the section World Meat.
The pork market trends have undergone a radical change over the last two decades. The pricing system used to be based on the weight parameter alone; nowadays, the spotlight is on the meat quality. For analysis and assessment of quality indicators see the section Comments.
Globalization has affected not only political and economic aspects of our life – the makeup of our diet has been "globalised" as well. How the pattern of meat consumption in Russia has changed over the last decade and what is in store for us in the future are the focus point of the section the Issue's Feature. The meat processor Bogatyr appeared on the Moscow market a little over six years ago, in February 1999. Today, the production space has increased 15-fold; the output, 100-fold. How Oleg Sharov, a graduate of a meat-and-milk college and a national martial arts champion, is building his business is the subject of the section the Issue's Personage.
Over the 75 years of its existence, the US company Farmland has travelled a long and hard road from an unsophisticated farmer's coop to a major US producer of pork, a member of the Smithfield group of companies. The export interests of the company, the range of its products and meat market trends are discussed in the section Leaders by Erik Kartvelishvili, Farmland’s representative in Russia.
On 30 June 2005, the State Duma hosted a meeting of the Agrarian Committee deputies with representatives of the Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision Service, Russia's Economic Development and Trade Ministry and Federal Customs Service. The deputies heard a report on the progress of negotiations for Russia's accession to WTO in regard to agribusiness. For more details about the issues reviewed during the session please see the section Parliamentary News.
At the end of May 2004, Russia imposed a ban on imports of breed stock from the countries with even isolated cases of BSE reported. At the same time, a number of other countries introduced similar restrictions. The measures have brought about an aggravation in the situation on the pedigreed dairy and beef cattle breeding market, which is discussed in the section Safety and Health.
The frozen food production and distribution market has been growing rapidly worldwide. The new developments in warehousing, which enable distributors and retailers to efficiently manage receipt, storage and shipment of frozen and chilled foods, are discussed in the section Technology and Business.
Between 1 and 3 June 2005, the Crocus-Expo exhibition centre (Moscow) housed the 2nd International Trade Show VIV Russia 2005. On 16 June 2005, the Abercade company held a hands-on workshop for professionals called Frozen Food Packaging. Coverage of the above events is available in the section Reportage.
There are dishes that any restaurant patron would be happy to get a taste of. If you haven't tasted them, you have no right to call yourself a connoisseur. The section Entertainment presents material on marble meat.