Polish pork significantly increased its prominence as a traded product within the EU in 2015, continuing a change of marketing patterns following the country’s problems with African Swine Fever (ASF), according to AHDB Pork.
While current figures for pork traded between the EU’s 28 member states show little overall change in the volumes involved last year, Poland stands out as the one major exception.
“Poland’s imports were up 9%, while exports to other member states rose by 18%, moving the country ahead of France in the export league table,” said AHDB Pork. “In part, this is because of the loss of non-EU export markets following the ASF outbreaks in the country, meaning it has had to find markets within Europe.”
As a result, 83% of Polish exports went to other EU countries in 2015, compared with little over half two years earlier, before the ASF cases.
The latest figures also show that Poland increased its pork sales to most of the EU’s importers, including the UK, which took around 6,000 tonnes more Polish pork last year than in 2014.