Economist Portansky: Rising meat prices in Europe will not affect the cost of pork and chicken in Russia

Beef, which Russia partially imports from South America and Australia, may rise in price if the EU countries agree to introduce an additional tax and increase meat prices in favor of the environment, but this will not affect pork and chicken meat, said Professor of the Department of World Economy of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Leading Aleksey Portansky, researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Scientists from the Technical University of Berlin, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the University of Oxford have concluded that in order to reduce the harm that animal husbandry causes to the environment, retail prices for meat should be higher: by 35-56% for beef, 25% for poultry, 19% – lamb and pork. Members of a specialized government commission in Germany calculated that a kilogram of beef should cost not 14 euros, as it is now, but 80 euros.

If this happens, the increase in prices in Europe may indirectly affect domestic Russian prices, Portansky believes. However, this will affect only certain positions of livestock products.

“We have very narrow results of import substitution, but they are also the most noticeable to the end consumer just for pork, chicken and tomatoes. We are very proud that as a result of import substitution for pork, chicken, tomatoes, our prices have become lower than for imported products. So, in principle, the rise in prices in the EU should not directly affect Russian prices, since we produce these items exclusively within the country for ourselves. If we talk about beef, which we partially import from South America, from Australia and which is sold in elite restaurants at very interesting prices, it will certainly cost more,” Portansky believes.

According to the expert, in the conditions of a “green” economy, livestock farming is waiting for modernization. “It is possible to reduce emissions from cattle breeding only under the conditions of modernization. Implement technologies for capturing gases or something else. As a result, some farms will simply go bankrupt and cease to exist. Only strong high-tech farms that can compete in these conditions will survive. Someday, perhaps, there will come a moment when there will be no natural meat at all. But it will not be soon, ”the source of the agency believes.