Impact Of Integration With The European Union On The Polish Meat Industry

The past decade, i.e. 2004-2014, was a period of intensive development of the Polish meat industry, in which Poland’s accession to the European Union and a possibility of using EU subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) definitely had their share. Thanks to this support, the meat industry in Poland grew much faster than in the EU-15 and was a leader of the EU-12/13. Integration with the EU had a positive impact on accelerating production growth in the Polish meat industry, while several years of adaptation to EU requirements significantly changed the image of Polish meat companies in the Single European Market. The Polish meat industry became a major producer of meat and meat preparations in the European market (in 2014, ranked fifth in the EU) and Polish processing plants are considered among the most advanced in the EU. In the past decade, meat product export was one of the main factors contributing to the development of the meat industry in Poland. Growing domestic demand was the second important factor of production growth. However, greater market diversification is needed (Asian and African countries, the Middle East).