the Ukrainian “chicken king” responds to Emmanuel Macron, who accuses him of “getting rich”

Emmanuel Macron believes that the suspension of customs duties for Ukrainian imports into Europe mainly benefited a poultry company, MHP. Its executive president responds on franceinfo and assures that “all of this is not Ukraine’s fault”.

The Ukrainian chicken is seen as a threat by French breeders. They particularly target the production of the giant of the sector, the company Myronivsky Hliboprodukt (MHP), registered in Cyprus and listed in London, led by oligarch Yuriy Kosyuk. MHP has huge factory farms all over Ukraine and ensures 60% of the country’s poultry production, or around three hundred million chickens per year. The European Union suspended tariffs with Ukraine to help the country’s wartime economy, making its chickens even more competitive. And the “Ukrainian chicken king” benefited greatly from it, so much so that Yuriy Kosyuk was targeted by Emmanuel Macron, who believes that the increase in imports of Ukrainian chicken into Europe has benefited “three quarters” at MHP. “Yes to help Ukraine, but no to unfair competition, assured the Head of State on February 1 in Brussels. Objectively, we don’t want to enrich this gentleman. That’s not the goal, It doesn’t help Ukraine.”

Franceinfo tried to obtain an interview with oligarch Yuriy Kosyuk, without success. We had to call to Dubai to speak to the executive chairman of MHP, John Rich, who granted us an interview.

Franceinfo: What do you have to say to the French president, who estimates that the increase in imports of Ukrainian chickens into Europe has benefited “three quarters” of your company, MHP?

John Rich, Executive Chairman of MHP: The most important message I want to send to your esteemed President is: please verify your information. Because clearly, there has been a distortion of the facts. The facts as he presented them were inaccurate. We believe it is essential to re-establish the truth. Even if I insist on thanking the French presidency again and again for the immense help it provides to Ukraine, at a time when we are experiencing the worst war since the Second World War.

Do you maintain that Emmanuel Macron’s comments are incorrect?

Our MHP company only exported about 6-9 thousand tons of products to France, which represents 1-1.3% of total French imports. France imports almost 500,000 tonnes per year, of which around 25% comes from Poland or other EU countries. So you know, at the end of the day, Ukraine is not a major player in the French poultry market. To be completely clear, we have no impact on French prices. IThey increased significantly at the start of the war and have remained exactly the same since.

But you recognize that your exports within the European Union have greatly benefited from the elimination of customs duties?

There is no doubt that the removal of customs duties is a very smart strategy put in place by the EU to enable Ukraine to support itself. What happened is that Ukrainian production, instead of previously representing 10% of EU imports, increased to 25%. Which was the goal of the strategy! Demand for poultry increased after the Covid crisis, except that exports from Brazil fell. Those of the United Kingdom also fell, those of Thailand remained the same. So Ukrainian production has only replaced Brazilian and British production. That’s all she did.

Do you fear the mobilization of farmers?

I’m old enough to know that these things work in cycles. Yes, farmers protest for good reasons and it is often during elections that they do so. European elections, in this case, to change policies, and it’s already working! But all this is not Ukraine’s fault.

Lhe war directly impacts you as a business leader. How many employees do you have who are mobilized?

We have in Ukraine between 27 and 28 thousand employees, about 10% of them are mobilized and unfortunately, 5% have been killed. The company has therefore surrounded itself with a large number of psychologists and psychiatrists and we continue to support the soldiers by paying their salaries – or by paying them to their families if they die – for ten years.