ARTICLES Panos Katsachnias “Opportunities and prospects for the meat sector in Greece”

Opportunities and prospects for the meat sector in Greece

Article by:

Panos Katsachnias - Editor-in-Chief of MEAT PLACE

Business opportunities and utilization prospects in all sectors require excellent knowledge of the conditions that apply each time. Thus, the meat sector in Greece could not be an exception to this general rule.

After all, this is what this special edition of MEAT PLACE magazine that you hold in your hands, aims at. In condensing - ipso facto - through the specific number of its pages, the information that will be useful and interesting to those who will read it, offering knowledge and, at the same time, providing them with the impetus to further explore with greater study, the matters they find more interesting.

Greece is a country with many special features, apart from the sun and the sea. And it’s these peculiarities - if we can call them that - that give it an increased element of “friction”, increasing its “inertia” in the abrupt changes of direction and speed that occur in a globalized economic environment, as it still is today, which constantly imposes adjustments.

But this feature does not only create problems or delays. For it is precisely this “time lag” that protects it from rushing to incorporate international practices that later turn out to be wrong in practice and are rejected by those who first adopted them uncritically. Moreover, it is noteworthy that in times of major crises - such as the one we are experiencing today with the war in Ukraine - it can and does act as a “breakwater” protecting - to a certain extent of course - its small Gross Domestic Product.

But what are the characteristics, which, in parallel to the “big picture”, always affect the production, utilization, distribution and consumption of meat and its products in Greece? We will try to capture them in a brief but concise manner: • It is a small -geographically- mainly mountainous country… spread over two large main seas with thousands of islands and islets • It is a - fundamentally - island country, whose population consumes more meat than seafood • It is a country of just 10 million inhabitants… but during the tourist season this number triples • It is a country on the eastern edge of the continent, which is still trying to acquire modern road and rail networks throughout its domain… but at the same time it has Piraeus, one of the largest commercial ports in Europe at the moment • It is a country that has a large (in businesses) HO.RE.CA sector… but due to the recent 10year financial crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic of the last 2,5 years and today, due to inflation, price increases and energy costs, is “battling” for survival • It is a country, in which the recorded meat consumption amounts to almost three times its population, compared to the European average… but which imports almost 80% of its meat needs • It is a country where meat is “cherished”… but very specific parts of it are consumed • It is a country whose consumers support the traditional neighborhood butcher shops with their purchases… but they do always consider the Supermarket offers • It is a country where retailers and consumers “Insist on Greek” in terms of communication… but mostly purchase imported goods • It is a country that tries to be competitive in the farming of indigenous breeds, but… there are also state subsidies • It is a country that produces high quality products… but lacks the “labels” • It is a country where young entrepreneurs enter the production field with new ideas, drive and passion… but do not rely on their efforts sufficiently • It is a country where at an academic level a very important research and educational project is taking place over time… but at the level of technical education and vocational training, things have been “left to their own devices” • It is a country where cooking and grilling, as well as “family dinners” are part of a “casual” culture that survives from the past… with orders nowadays (Delivery, Take away, Precooked, “Food Corner”), showing rapid increase • It is a country that faces both the East and the West… Souvlaki, Gyros, Feta and Mediterranean

Meat trends in the EU and Internationally

In the following 10-year period, the meat and poultry market in the European Union is estimated to progress at a declining annual rate of -0,4%.

This assessment, of course, does not take into account any consequences (shortages, costs, livestock reduction) of the war in Ukraine.

This decline in consumption is due, on the one hand, to the change of consumption habits with a reduction of meat in the daily diet and, on the other hand, to the reduced production of meat and poultry, due to measures to promote sustainability. This is because European consumers nowadays demand more attention to be paid to the sustainability of the production process, especially to animal welfare and their environmental footprint. Therefore, organic meat production will increase. The aim to combat climate change will also result in the reduction of the number of cattle, which will limit the supply on the EU market, which is supplied by domestic production.

Thus, beef and pork demand is expected to decline, while it will increase for poultry and mutton.

Exports from European Union countries will decrease, mainly due to lower demand from Asia, although global meat consumption is estimated to increase at an average annual rate of 1,4%, as a result of rising incomes in developing countries. On the contrary, per capita meat consumption in the EU is estimated to decrease slightly, from 68 kg in 2022 to 67,5 kg in 2025. And it is precisely the lowest consumption of beef and pork that is the main factor shaping the market stagnation in the EU, in which, not even the growing demand for poultry and mutton will be enough, to offset this trend.

Diet, along with Fine Dining, Kobe and Topinambur • It is a country whose comparative advantage, the extensive livestock breeding, combined with the great biodiversity of the area and its geographical diversity… practically remains unexploited • It is a country whose fragmentation and small size is a characteristic and -objectively- structural problem… but cooperatives and any partnerships and associations in all links of the production chain, are not implemented as practices • It is a country that has imported grain from the countries located north of the Black Sea since antiquity… and in modern times almost all its animal feed • It is a country where historically, the occupation of its inhabitants with livestock breeding dates back to the Bronze Age… but in the past years it is a constantly declining activity • It is a country with one of the strongest “brand names” globally… but which - as far as meat is concerned - likes to consume it in “Hellenizations”

It is a country in which the proper study of the features (problematic and not), of its export dynamics, - in relation to its geographical position - of the production of quality products with a “name”, as well as of its quantitative and numerical data, highlight those opportunities that can be exploited in business, amending past mistakes, and gaining from the advantages it can offer. M

Meat Production and Self-sufficiency

Produced meat and Self-sufficiency at a rate of % Animal species Quantity of meat (tons) Self-sufficiency

Poultry 165,000 75% Pigs 95,000 28% Sheep and goats 108,769 88,5% Cattle 59,000 20,0%

Other Species 3,969 40,3%