Legislative changes and veterinary drugs market adjustment discussed by poultry industry experts at the Practitioners' Forum in Moscow

On September 14, VIC Group held a practitioners' forum for representatives of the country's major poultry enterprises during the Agribusiness Leaders project. The event was dedicated to product logistics and supply chains, as well as a discussion of the veterinary drugs market transformation.

Timur Chibilyaev, Executive Director of the National Veterinary Association, spoke in detail about the changes in Russian legislation related to veterinary drugs that came into effect on September 1, 2023. Now, in order for a registered veterinary drug to enter the Russian market, the manufacturer must have the following:

• certificate of compliance of the production site with the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements issued by Rosselkhoznadzor;
• a certified authorized person who, before introducing a batch/series of the drug into the market, certifies that the product meets the quality requirements and is produced in compliance with the documentation filed at the time of registration.

As of March 2024, similar EAEU rules on the registration and circulation of veterinary drugs will come into force: they provide for peer audits of production sites, involving, in particular, Rosselkhoznadzor. According to Timur Chibilyaev, these measures are not restrictive, but rather bring foreign manufacturers to the level of requirements that have been imposed on domestic manufacturers for over 5 years. "Companies that cannot guarantee the quality of their production and products will leave the market, the process will become as regulated and transparent as possible", - the expert believes.

Grigory Grigoryuk, Supply Chain Director of VIC Group, spoke about the specifics of dealing with GMP products, transformation of supply chains, market changes and key trends. The expert claims that following the GMP standards improper manufacturing is virtually impossible. However, the organization of work in full compliance with GMP principles is very process-oriented and time-consuming. However, all over the world, especially in China, there is a persistent trend to reduce the number of manufacturers of pharmaceutical substances, because more and more countries legally prohibit dealing with not GMP-compliant products. Also Grigory Grigoryuk predicts, based on the current trends, that international and domestic logistics will continue to grow more complicated and expensive. In the current context, VIC Group is actively implementing changes aimed at offsetting these negative factors. For example, the range of raw material producers has been reduced to those who are ready to provide a guarantee of supply and stable quality, transition to rail and multimodal transportation has been made, and the planning horizon of all activities has been doubled (from 4 to 8 months). The shares of the major market players are expected to be redistributed in the near future due to changes in legislation, and veterinary products range is expected to change. In addition, due to a significant change in the logistics market, internal logistics costs are expected to increase and approaches to warehouse logistics may be revised. Most likely, the key market players will be actively building stocks and optimizing delivery processes.

Lusegen Khoshafyan, Director of Poultry Marketing department of VIC Group, presented alternative solutions to replace antibiotics and the prospects of replacing vaccines and coccidiostatics. The expert considered the main challenges that poultry enterprises had to face in the last 3-4 years: highly pathogenic and low pathogenic influenza, Newcastle disease. Central Russia is having a hard time with outbreaks of these diseases: low preservation of birds affects the economy, production costs and the amount of meat on the market. Producers and veterinary companies are challenged to find optimal solutions in the context of import substitution. For example, domestic veterinary pharmacology can cover up to 100% of the need for antibiotics. There are no developments in the field of feed antibiotics yet, and imports are mainly used. The expert also specified that there is a certain risk of vaccine shortage, but European, global and Russian producers do not cease to cooperate.

The forum was attended by more than 30 specialists from Russian and Belarusian companies: "Prodo", Cherkizovo Group, "Chelny-Broiler", "Sibagro", "Damate", "DSM Nutritional Products Rus", "Servolux Nutrition" and others.

The Agribusiness Leaders project is intended to deepen cooperation between leading representatives of the animal protein market and create a business environment for sharing professional experience and knowledge. Regular meetings, conferences, forums and partnership projects are designed to help develop joint innovative solutions and accelerate the agribusiness development as a whole.