- The EU has introduced EU Regulation 820/9747 on an identification and registration system for cattle and beef and beef products, which is intended to ensure – along with the movement of goods – the flow of information to trace products throughout the supply chain. This regulation has been in force since 1 January 2000 in EU countries.
- In June 2021, Poland’s cattle population was about 6.3 million head and in December about 6.28 million head, i.e. in June it would have been about 1% smaller than a year earlier (2020) and in December 2021 it would have been at 2020 levels.
- In the EU, beef accounts for about 10% of the community’s agricultural production. The sector ranked second (after cereals) in terms of the amount of support from the Union budget. Subsidies to this agricultural production sector amounted to approximately €6 billion per year. Beef producers received 13% of Community funding for the Common Agricultural Policy.
- Unlike in Poland, in the EU the vast majority of beef comes from special meat breeds of cattle (so-called culinary beef).
- Beef consumption in the EU is about 16 kg per capita, EU residents spend 10% of total food expenditure on beef purchases. In Poland, expenditure on beef amounts to 3% of total food expenditure.
Sources:
GUS, Foreign Trade Statistical Yearbook 2021, Warsaw 2021