Beef production

The number of cattle in all types of farms in Russia (industrial farms, peasant farms, rural households) in 2011 equaled 20.3 million heads. It was less than a year before. The structure of cattle number in Russia by type of farms in 2011 has such indicators: 46.8% - rural households, 45.6% - industrial farms, 7.6% - peasant farms.

In February 2011 industrial production fell compared to February of the previous year by 11.3% to 38.9 thousand tons in carcass weight (68.2 thousand tons in live weight). If compared to January 2011 it fell by 2.0%. The results of spring and the beginning of summer 2011 gave a slight increase in beef production. At the beginning of 2011 beef production at industrial farms amounted to about 78.6 thousand tons in carcass weight, which was 7.4% less than in the same period of 2010.

Volga Federal District takes a leading position in industrial beef production in Russia – 29.3 thousand tons (meat in slaughter weight) were produced in January-February 2011. Most noticeably there is a decrease in North Caucasian Federal District – 15.9% and in Central Federal District – 12.7%.

In Russia demand for imported beef is growing with the drop in production. These trends will be reviewed in the next few years. Cattle inventory at industrial farms represented mainly dairy breeds. Over the past 10 years the number of cows in the industrial farms of Russia decreased by 43.2%, while milk production was reduced by only 6%. This is due to the fact that milk yield per cow increased by 74.7%. But the efficiency of milk production in Russian farms is still at a fairly low level – milk yield per cow is only a little bit more than 4 tons per year, whereas the average milk yield at the farms in developed countries is 8 -12 tons. With the increased efficiency of milk production, the number of cattle and beef production at industrial farms will continue to decline.

The leading local analysts in the field of agriculture believe that a rise in world prices of beef forces Russia to accelerate the recovery of the domestic cattle herd and beef production.
The situation in the beef industry of Russia remains challenging. According to some local beef producers, currently beef production in Russia remains unprofitable, and the branch requires a huge government support. 

 According to some estimates, the development of beef cattle production in Russia during the next 10-15 years will require enormous investments estimated at billions of dollars. In addition, payback period of such projects is more than ten years.