Polish geese fly out into the world

The population of geese in Poland is subject to relatively small changes and in recent years has been at the lever of about 1 milion head. Geese bred in Poland are used mainly for consumption purposes. Of great economic importance are also goose feathers and down that are used as a filler with very good thermal properties.

Production of geese in Poland

It is estimated that there are about 60 breeds of geese in the world. In Poland, the dominant breed of geese is White Kołuda Goose, accounting for more that 90% of the national population of geese and is the result of the work of the National Research Institute of Animal Production in Kołuda Wielka. This breed is characterized by very good weight gains, low fat content and excellent taste.

The rearing of these birds in Poland is concentrated in four voivodships:

• Kujawsko- Pomorskie (188 thousand head),
• Łódzkie (165 thousand head),
• Wielkopolskie (156 thousand head) and
• Podlaskie (152 thousand head)

The total share of these four regions in the national population of geese accounted for 68%. In the remaining voivodships, the population of geese was much smaller and ranged from 68 thousand head in the Lubelskie Voivodship to 2 thousand head in the Dolnośląskie Voivodship.

Export of Polish goose meat

Due to high quality of meat, Polish geese are appreciated by foreign consumers which translates into the export volume of this meat species. In the years 2020-2022, there was a dynamic increase in export value of this product range, and this value increased from eur 51 to 115 milion, so more than twice.

The majority of goose meat is exported by Poland to the EU countries. Invariably, for many years the major meat has been Germany. In 2022, 10,5 thousand tonnes of Polish goose meat worth 75% of the export volume and 87% of the export revenues of this product range. Smaller customers of Polish goose meat were:

• France (1.3 thousand tonnes, 4,8mln eur)
• Hong Kong (0,6 thoudand tonnes- 0,6 mln eur)
• The United Kingdom (0,3 thousand tonnes- 1,2 mln eur)
• Hungary (0,3 thousand tonnes- 2,2 mln eur).

The import of goose meat to Poland is small. In the years 2012-2022, it ranged from 22 to 513 tonnes and was virtually unimportant in the domestic trade balance.

Source: Polish Food