Agroholding Avesterra Group plans to invest around EUR300 million in the construction of new production facilities, incubators, parent flocks, and a biomethane plant over the next five years, company owner Dmytro Dobkin announced during the opening of a new site in Volyn on Tuesday.
“Investments in new poultry houses are part of a long-term strategy to modernize production in Ukraine. We have invested EUR15 million in this site, and this is only the first step. By 2028, we plan to build six such production sites with 20 poultry houses each and invest a total of about EUR 100 million. This will allow us to fully utilize our capacity and reach a production of about a quarter of a million broilers per day,” said the owner of Avesterra Group.
According to the company’s CEO, Svitlana Sobipan, the new facility, with an area of over 55,000 square meters, is located on 19 hectares and is equipped with modern German Big Dutchman equipment. Today, the group’s poultry division comprises 120 poultry houses, which provide for the rearing of up to 35.1 million birds per year.
“We are building the company systematically, with a focus on technology, biosafety, and consistent quality. Even in difficult times, we continue to implement strategic projects,” the CEO emphasized.
During the full-scale war, Avesterra Group invested over EUR 75 million in modernization. In 2025, the holding’s enterprises paid over UAH 500 million to budgets at all levels, and the total amount of tax deductions since the beginning of the invasion exceeded UAH 1.5 billion.
Avesterra Group is one of the leading chicken producers in Ukraine. The company is among the top four producers in the industry and provides a full production cycle: from grain cultivation to processing and logistics of finished products. The company employs over 1,500 people, operates 120 poultry houses, and has a modern meat processing complex with a capacity of 13,500 broilers per hour. The company’s products are represented on the Ukrainian market under the brands “Epicur” and “Chebaturochka” and on international markets under the brand Delika.
Over the past few decades, poultry farming has become the most dynamic and widespread type of animal husbandry in the world. Chickens, the main link in this industry, have gone far beyond traditional subsistence farming and have become the main source of animal protein for billions of people. Experts Club analysts have studied global changes in chicken breeding between 1990 and 2023, recording unprecedented growth and structural transformations in the industry.
“Poultry farming has become a symbol of the new consumer economy: fast production, low cost, adaptability to global demand. That is why chicken is replacing other types of meat around the world,” said Maksim Urakin, PhD in Economics and founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center.
In the early 1990s, the total number of chickens in the world was estimated at 10 billion (in thousands of heads). Even then, this figure exceeded the number of any other type of farm animal. However, the real leap forward took place in 2000–2020. By 2023, the total number of chickens in the world exceeded 29 billion, i.e., it almost tripled in three decades. This means that there are approximately 3.6 chickens per person on the planet, considering the total world population of over 8 billion.
This explosive growth can be explained by several key factors. First and foremost is economic efficiency. Chicken is the cheapest meat to produce, requiring significantly less feed, water, and time to raise than pork or beef. In the context of global urbanization, rising incomes, and changing eating habits, chicken has become a “universal” product: it is consumed equally in the US, Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Egypt.
In addition to economics, religious and cultural factors are equally important. Unlike pork and beef, which are restricted in consumption due to religious prohibitions in Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism, chicken is acceptable in almost all traditions.
This makes it a globally universal source of protein. “Chicken is a compromise protein. It is acceptable everywhere, inexpensive, quick to process, and that is why it has become the standard of the 21st century,” Urakin emphasized. Technical innovations play an equally important role.
From the 1990s to the 2020s, the poultry industry has undergone a technological revolution: automated incubators, genetically improved broilers, controlled growing conditions, biosecurity, and strict quality monitoring have become the norm in large agricultural countries. This has significantly increased the industry’s productivity. On average, the cycle of raising a broiler to market size has been reduced from 70 to 42 days.
Geographically, the largest chicken producers are China, the US, Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Russia. At the same time, African countries are experiencing rapid growth in domestic production, focused on both food security and reducing dependence on imports.
However, the growth dynamics of the livestock population also carries risks. The increasing density of chicken farming creates an increased epidemiological burden, which is particularly evident in the form of outbreaks of avian influenza. In addition, critics point to animal welfare issues, excessive use of antibiotics, and methane emissions from poultry farms.
“Modern poultry farming must find a balance between productivity and society’s ethical requirements. This is a new challenge that the industry has not faced before,” said Maksim Urakin.
In the coming years, further growth in chicken consumption is expected, particularly in low-income countries, as well as an expansion of exports from Brazil, Thailand, and Ukraine. However, alternative proteins — plant-based and cell-based products already entering the market — may pose increasing competition to poultry farming.
For a more detailed overview of trends in poultry farming and graphs showing changes in livestock numbers, see the video on the Experts Club YouTube channel.
agroanalytics, chickens, EXPERTS CLUB, global livestock farming, poultry farming, МАКСИМ УРАКИН
Ukrainian poultry products have entered the market of the Sultanate of Oman, it is already the ninth market opened by Ukraine since the beginning of 2025, said the chairman of the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection (Gosprodpotrebsluzhba) Sergiy Tkachuk.
“Already the ninth new export market opened this year – Ukraine has received permission to supply meat, by-products and other poultry products to Oman. This became possible after the harmonization of veterinary requirements and the form of the certificate between the competent authorities of both countries,” he wrote in Facebook.
Tkachuk emphasized that the opening of the market of the Sultanate of Oman is another significant step in expanding Ukraine’s export opportunities and the result of systematic cooperation between the State Consumer Service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and diplomatic institutions.
“Together we continue to open new horizons for Ukrainian agricultural exports. From now on, Ukrainian producers can supply products that meet the veterinary and sanitary requirements of Oman, taking into account the conditions of production, processing, transportation, packaging and labeling,” – said the chairman of the State Consumer Service.
He added that the form of the certificate is available on the website of the State Consumer Service.
