On the same date there were 178.39 million poultry, an increase of 5.1 percent compared with the same date last year.

The number of cows in the country on June was 3.66 million, a fall of 7.1 percent.

The number of sheep and goats fell 2.1 percent to 2.04 million.

In the last few years, despite bird flu, a number of serious investors entered the pork and poultry markets and considerable financial resources had been invested in upgrading the existing facilities and creating new ones.

Some 200 new pig farms are being constructed in Ukraine, with the number of pigs expected to increase by 2 million in the course of the year.

Ukraine poultry output is likely to increase this year to 550,000 tonnes from 419,200 tonnes in 2005.

The proportion of poultry in the total amount of meat consumed by Ukraine's population this year is likely to increase to 50 percent from 12 percent in 2000.

By 2010, Ukraine plans to be producing 800,000 tonnes of poultry a year, including 500,000 tonnes of broiler chicken meat.

Source: eFeedLink - 12th June 2006