MEAT Sector Analyse

SMEI II Inception Report page 1 

THE EUROPEAN UNION’S IPA 2008 PROGRAMME 

FOR THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA 

“Capacity Building for Implementing the Rural 

Development Strategy” 

Delegation Agreement No: 2009/212-470 

Analysis of Meat Sector 

A project funded by 

the European Union and the Federal 

Government of Germany 

April 2010 

This project is funded by 

The European Union and The Federal Government of Germany 

A project implemented by 

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische 

Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH

ALBANIA 

“Capacity Building for Implementing 

the Rural Development Strategy” 

Support to the Albanian Ministry of Agriculture, 

Food and Consumer Protection 

Meat Sector Study 

Dr.Martin Mautner Markhof / office@agroservice.com 

Prof. Dr.Bahri Musabelliu 

Alban Zusi 

April 2010 

Meat Sector Study, page 1 

Meat Sector Study

CONTENT 

ABBREVIATIONS 


0) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY………………………………………………………………………..7 

1) BACKGROUND AND KEY FIGURES………………………………………………………..11 

2) PRODUCER/FARMERS……………………………………………………………………….14 

Cattle……………………………………………………………………………………………..14 

Sheep and goats………………………………………………………………………………..16 

Pigs………………………………………………………………………………………………19 

Poultry……………………………………………………………………………………………20 

Animal feeding…………………………………………………………………………………..21 

Animal feed producers……………………………………………………………………….22 

3) PROCESSING INDUSTRY…………………………………………………………………....23 

Slaughterhouses………………………………………………………………………………..23 

Keputa………………………………………………………………………………………….25 

Meat processing companies…………………………………………………………………..26 

EHW GmbH……………………………………………………………………………………27 

KMY…………………………………………………………………………………………….27 

Meat Master…………………………………………………………………………………...28 

Darb Univers Frigo Darb………………………………………………………………….....28 

TONA Co………………………………………………………………….............................28 

DEKON FRIGO…………………………………………………………………...................28 

EL FRIGO 2……………………………………………………………………………………28 

FRIGO ALBA………………………………………………………………….......................29 

FIX-PRO shpk………………………………………………………………………………...29 

HAKO…………………………………………………………………………………………..29 

ALBIDEA ………………………………………………………………………………………29 

ROZAFA KACI shpk………………………………………………………………………….30 

I.N.C.A Nord Fish…………………………………………………………………................30 

4) GOVERNMENT POLICY FOR THE SECTOR AND INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES………...31 

Cattle………………………………………………………………………………………..….31 

Sheep……………………………………………………………………………………….….31 

Land property and reform……………………………………………………………...…….32 

Mountain areas………………………………………………………………………………..33 

Value Added Tax……………………………………………………………………………...34 

5) MARKET AND TRADE………………………………………………………………………...34 

Availability of products……………………………………………………………………...….34 

Supply chain…………………………………………………………………………………….34 

Consumption pattern…………………………………………………………………….……..35 

Legal framework for trade …………………………………………………………………….36 

Agro-food trade balance……………………………………………………………………….37 

6) LEVEL OF ATTAINMENT OF RELEVANT EU STANDARDS …………………………...39 

Occupational health and safety………………………………………………………….……39 

Environment……………………………………………………………………………………..39 

Food safety ……………………………………………………………………………………..40 

Animal health and welfare……………………………………………………………………..42 

Competent authorities………………………………………………………………………….44 

National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI) 2007-2013………………….45 

Meat Sector Study, page 2


Agriculture and fisheries……………………………………………………………………….46 

Farm level……………………………………………………………………………………….46 

Processing level………………………………………………………………………………...47 

7) PAST TRENDS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN TERMS OF INVESTMENTS…...47 

Past trends……………………………………………………………………………………....47 

Actual situation………………………………………………………………………………….47 

Future developments…………………………………………………………………………..48 

8) IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL AND NEEDS FOR THE SECTOR…………...……..49 

9) IDENTIFICATION OF TRAINING NEEDS FOR THE SECTOR…………………………..62 

Training needs for farmers…………………………………………………………………….63 

Training needs for slaughterhouse’s staff……………………………………………………63 

Training needs for meat processor’s staff……………………………………………………63 

Training needs for the public administration…………………………………………………63 

10) OUTCOME………………………………………………………………………………………64 

Overview of the meat sector ………………………………………………………………….64 

Potentials and obstacles……………………………………………………………………….65 

Final recommendations in order to target the specific investments ……………………...66 

LITERATURE AND WEBSITES CONSIDERED…………………………………………………69 

Map 1: Land use in Albania 

Map 2: Administration in Albania 

Table 1: Sub-sector’s contribution to the agricultural added value (in Lek and %) 

Table 2: Output of animal products 

Table 3: Animals in Albania (heads in 000) 

Table 4: Meat production 2000 – 2009 

Table 5: Average live weight of calves when slaughtered 

Table 6: Revenues per sheep and year; meat vs. milk 

Table 7: Break - even points for milk and meat 

Table 8: Poultry meat farm 

Table 9: Investment of the agro-industry in Lek million 

Table 10: Sausage and ham production of the agro-industry 

Table 11: Average size of agricultural enterprises and cooperatives 

Table 12: Livestock production 

Table 13: Meat consumption 

Table 14: Agro-food import and export 

Table 15: Import of agricultural and food products by quantity and value 

Table 16: Export of agricultural and food products by quantity and value 

Table 17: Investments in Albanian agroindustry 



Map 1: Land use in Albania 


(Source: SHUNDI, Andrea Prof.: Country Pasture/Forage Resource Profiles Albania; 2006) 


Map 2: Administration in Albania 



Albania is divided into 12 administrative divisions called counties or in Albanian qark/qarku', 

often also prefekturë/prefektura; furthermore there are 65 municipalities and 308 communes. 

No Regions Area km² 

1 Berat 1802 

2 Diber 2507 

3 Durres 827 

4 Elbasan 3278 

5 Fier 1887 

6 Gjirokaster 2883 

7 Korce 3711 

8 Kukes 2373 

9 Lezhe 1581 

10 Shkoder 3562 

11 Tirana 1586 

12 Vlora 2706 

ALBANIA 28703

ABBREVIATIONS 


ADAMA Albanian Dairy and Meat Association 

ATTC Agricultural Technology Transfer Centres 

BSE Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, a cattle disease 

CAP Common Agricultural Policy 

CARDS Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation 

CEFTA Central European Free Trade Agreement 

CESVI Cooperazione e Sviluppo, an Italian NGO 

EC European Commission 

FVO Food and Veterinary Office (Ireland) 

GAP Good Agricultural Practice 

GDP Gross Domestic Product 

GOA Government of Albania 

GTZ German Agency for Technical Cooperation 

HACCP Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point 

IPA Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance 

IPARD Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance on Rural Development 

ISO International Organisation for Standardisation 

Lek Albanian Currency 

MAFCP Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection 

NFA National Food Authority 

NGO Non Governmental Organisation 

NSDI National Strategy for Development and Integration 

OIE World Organisation for Animal Health 

SLI State Labour Inspectorate 

SR Small Ruminants 

SWOT Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats 

VAT Value Added Tax 

WTO World Trade Organisation 

Exchange rate (1 st April 2010) 

Euro : Lek = 1 : 139,344000 

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/inforeuro/index.cfm?fuseaction=currency_historique& 

currency= 6&Language=en 


O. Executive Summary 


This meat sector study was prepared during January to April 2010 within the framework of 

the EU / GTZ project „Capacity Building for Implementing the Rural Development Strategy“ to 

provide a quantitative and qualitative description of the meat sector in Albania; starting from 

livestock keepers to slaughterhouses and meat processors. In addition a SWOT analysis 

accomplished the potential and weak points of the meat sector and summarized all the 

findings. This was necessary to have a sound base for upcoming decisions within the 

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection (MAFCP), especially related to the 

envisaged Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance on Rural Development (IPARD) support 

scheme. This scheme intends to assist financially investment in agriculture holdings, in 

processing and marketing of the agricultural products. Other recommendations which will not 

find IPARD support – as they do not fit the criteria of the two mentioned measures – have 

been made and eventually the Government of Albania (GOA) will find financing means 

trough national support programmes. 

The objective of this meat sector analysis was to give a quantitative and qualitative 

description of the Albanian meat sector, addressing both production and processing. 

The following methodology and approach were applied to write this study: 

a) Desk research; 

b) Intensive expert talks with MAFCP staff but also with the Agricultural Technology 

Transfer Centres (ATTC) and other institutions; 

c) Visit of more than 15 farms (see also ANNEX 1); 

d) Individual meeting with leading representatives of the meat processing industry 

(including visits of several processing plants and slaughterhouses), representatives of 

associations, traders and importers (see also ANNEX 1); 

e) More than 10 Focus Group meetings in all major geographical areas (political regions) 

to get immediate insight into the husbandry sector and to collect additional baseline 

data; 

f) Discussions with other internationally funded projects in this sector. 

In order to make the study transparent the focus was on cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and 

chicken only; other animal origin sectors (horse, buffalo, ostrich etc) have not been included. 

SWOT analyses have been made for each sub-group (farmers, slaughterhouses and meat 

processors) and the most important weaknesses in the sector are: 

• Unfavourable entity structures in production as most animals are kept by subsistence 

farmers on holdings with 1.2 – 1.8 ha; 

• High level of land fragmentation; 

• High fodder costs as almost all components have to be imported; 

• Low competitiveness and efficiency of production; 

• Unfavourable business environment for slaughterhouses which therefore are running at 

low capacity or not at all; 

• Unfavourable entity structures in processing especially for small meat processing 

plants slaughterhouses (the 5 - 10 big players are doing fine); 

• Insufficient attainment of national and/or EU standards at farm, slaughterhouse and 

small processing plant level; 

• Insufficient knowledge on modern production techniques / technologies and standards 

at farm and slaughterhouse level; 

• Insufficient professional advisory service. 

The outcome of the study shows very mixed results for the sub-groups. The results are 

astonishing. 



The livestock husbandry deals on one side with ruminants like cows, sheep and goats and 

on the other side with pigs and poultry. 

The ruminants are taking advantage of the Albanian pastures which are plentiful available. 

However the number of all ruminants heads is going continuously down due to: 

• Limited farm size and dominance of subsistence farming with livestock farmers not able 

to invest; 

• As meat production with ruminants requires long production cycle we face a slow return 

on investment; (situation is better with dairy farmers as they get regular cash revenues 

by selling milk); 

• Poor premises and outdated technology, for example stables without windows and too 

little and old tractors; 

• Poor infrastructure; for example missing water holes in remote areas; 

• Poor marketing channels and no uniform offer regarding qualities and quantities; 

• Very limited demand from the slaughterhouses and meat processors; 

• Migration to urban areas. 

On the other side are the pig and poultry producers and the animal head counts are 

increasing continuously. Also here we have two different groups with quite different 

performances. There are the subsistence farmers again who keep a dozen chickens in the 

backyard for self-consumption and additionally often 2 - 3 piglets – also for self consumption. 

The more commercial pig farmers are struggling with the following handicaps: 

• No specialisation of pig farms because piglets of good quality and sufficient quantities 

(uniform groups) cannot be purchased on weekly markets so that farmers have to get 

involved in the whole process: mother sows – piglet production – fattening; 

• Consequently piglets have been imported (from Serbia and other countries) and as it 

was more profitable importers brought in 80 – 90 kg pigs almost ready for slaughtering; 

• Main reason why imports of ready pigs are cheaper is that fodder, if not produced on 

the farm, is expensive; 

• Poor marketing channels and no uniform offer of fattened pigs regarding qualities and 

quantities. 

The situation in the chicken sector looks much better as here are several investors active 

who have the funds for this capital-intensive business with fast returns on investments. Often 

these investors are already active in agribusiness for example with feed production 

companies or slaughterhouses. There is a trend to establish a complete integrated chain of 

operations, from chicken farms to feed mill and retail outlets. These new chicken farms of 

agribusiness type can therefore also use cheaper fodder as it is produced often in own feed 

mills. 

Coming to the processors we also see quite different performances; slaughterhouses 

underperform and meat processing companies do well. 

In Albania there are many slaughterhouses not in operation (see also UNDP Albania; The 

Agribusiness Sector in Albania, Inward Investment Opportunities; 05) and the active around 

20 slaughterhouses do daily slaughtering of 1 – 2 cattle and / or few pigs or small ruminants. 

All slaughterhouses are working far below their capacities because nobody forces the traders 

and butchers to slaughter there; this will be one of the main activities of the upcoming 

National Food Authority (NFA). Therefore slaughterhouses face no or limited raw material 

supply. Usually the facilities are outdated and in most cases they do not even comply with 

the Albanian law. Consequently EU standards on hygiene, public authority, traceability and 

HACCP are not fulfilled and liquid and solid waste material is just dumped into landfills or 



washed away by the nearby river. The condition of the existing premises is poor so that most 

likely just new Greenfield investments in slaughterhouses will improve the situation. 

In contrast to the slaughterhouse sector the Albanian top meat processing companies like 

EHW, KMY, TONA and others are doing fine. The 10 biggest processing companies cover 

around 80 % of the market share, are financially strong and consider further investments with 

and without upcoming IPARD-support. 

Considering the whole meat sector under IPARD support schemes, there is definitely a need 

for financial support. In livestock farming the best potential is still within cattle and small 

ruminants as these livestock farms could make use of the natural advantages (i.e. pastures) 

which Albania has available. Less needs for financial support is required in the pig production 

and almost none in chicken farming. 

Also the processing sector has different stakeholders. Slaughterhouses will be needed in the 

future and as refurbishment is too expensive new slaughterhouses will have to be build. 

There is enough private interest in case that the competent authorities will start channelling 

all animals through slaughterhouses within the next months. Nevertheless IPARD funding will 

be needed. 

For the meat processing companies the authors see fewer necessities to support as the big 

players are doing fine and have a quite high level of standards already fulfilled. They are 

keen to export and need urgently improvements in the veterinary and food inspection system. 

Finally it has to be stressed out that Albania has no rendering plant and therefore all waste 

material from farms to slaughterhouses and meat processors are dumped into landfills. It is 

highly recommended to encourage the establishment of such a plant; this could be done also 

by the private sector especially of IPARD funding will be available and the NFA enforce 

relevant laws. 

Having covered the production side the study had also a look on the governmental 

stakeholders such as MAFCP, ATTC, NFA and others. These governmental bodies will need 

specific capacity building programmes to better understand the commercial side of the meat 

sector, IPRAD requirements regarding farmers and processors and their upcoming 

investment proposals and many more. 

For this meat sector study official data from MAFCP have been used wherever possible. 

Taking in consideration the overall situation in the sector and the results of the SWOT - 

analyses future interventions in the sector should be oriented mainly to: 

• Improve entity structure in production and processing and increase the competitiveness 

of the sector; 

• Increase overall competitiveness through investments for application of modern 

production techniques and technologies; 

• Improve status of attainment of national and EU standards on occupational health and 

safety, environmental issues, food and feed safety, animal health, animal welfare and 

more; these standards are closely related with the EU accession requirements; 

• Improve vocational training; 

• Improve performance and offer of service providers. 

Investment in Agricultural Holdings 

The following investments should be supported under IPARD: 

• Construction/extension/modernisation of animal shelters; 

• Construction and/or renovation of storage buildings and machine sheds; 



• Silage handling equipment and machinery, on-farm animal feed preparation, handling, 

distribution systems and storage; 

• Automatic feeding & drinking equipment, watering, heating and ventilation, automating 

environmental control systems including energy-saving equipments authorised and 

defined under Directive 2007/43/EC; 

• Investments for manure handling, storage and treatment facilities; 

• Animal handling equipment and facilities (e.g. weighing, disinfection); 

• Transportation equipment compatible with Community animal welfare standards; 

• Watering systems; 

• Fences and gates; 

• Special equipment for weighing, health control; 

• Biogas facilities; 

• Purchase of specialized technological equipment including IT and software (herd 

management, animal registry, general farm management). 

The ranking of investment priorities according to the different types of animals should be as 

follows: sheep – cattle – goats – pigs – poultry. 

Investment in Processing and Marketing of the Agricultural Products 


• Construction or renovation of slaughterhouses; 

• Renovation of meat processing enterprises; 

• Equipment for improvement of hygiene and product quality, in full compliance with 

Community standards; 

• Investments for establishment of food safety systems (HACCP, GMP and GHP) 

including laboratories and equipment to improve the control of the product quality and 

hygiene; 

• Certification costs; 

• Improvement of environmental protection; equipment and facilities for reprocessing of 

intermediate products and processable wastes; treatment and elimination of wastes: 

waste water works in slaughterhouses and fat catcher facilities for meat processing 

establishments; 

• Investment for slaughtering animals in conditions compatible with animal welfare; 

• Purchase of equipment for packaging; 

• Cold storage equipment, purchasing refrigerated transport means of carcass and meat 

products; 

• IT hardware and software for product and process management, Software & tracking 

system to implement traceability of carcass and meat inside the processing 

establishment. 

The ranking of investment priorities in the processing sector should be as follows: 

slaughterhouses - (rendering plants) – meat processors. 

Beside IPARD funding the agricultural sector would need substantially more support from the 

GOA. The current allocation of the budget for the sector agriculture and rural development 

makes just 2.2 % while the agricultural sector still produces more than 15 % of the GDP. 

Despite progress in many sectors the agriculture and rural development sector is and will be 

in the near future the backbone of all economic development in Albania. 


I. Background and Key Figures 


Albania has a population of more than 3 million inhabitants, and eventually the same number 

of Albanians who work and live abroad. The northern, north-eastern, south-eastern and 

central areas are characterized by hilly-mountainous terrain; whereas the north southern / 

costal area along the Adriatic and Ionian coast is lowland. It has a total land area of 28,750 

km² (equivalent to 2,875,000 ha); 696,000 ha are classified as agricultural land and 

2,179,000 ha as forestry, pasture and other fond. (Source: MAFCP; Statistical Yearbook 

2009) Out of the last group, around 423,000 ha are considered pastures. 

After 46 years of centrally planned economy, Albania’s agriculture has changed dramatically 

since the early 1990s. Before transition there have been 550 large state farms and 

cooperatives in Albania. After the collapse of the system and after the land distribution, which 

did not took place in the north, there have been about 467,000 very small family farms 

whereas today just 357,027 farm households are left with an average 1.5 ha - divided into 4 

parcels. On each farm live 4.8 people so that in total 1.7 million people are involved in 

farming activities; about 50 % of the population lives in rural areas. 

Despite being fragmented, this small farming agriculture has initially been vital to the 

alleviation of poverty in rural areas and provision to the urban markets with some elementary 

and indispensable foodstuff such as vegetables, meat and other dairy stuff. With 59 % of 

total labour and 21 % of GDP the agricultural sector, including also forestry, hunting and 

fishery, continues to be an important sector of the Albanian economy. Nevertheless the 

contribution to the GDP was continuously falling since 2005 (20.6 %), 2006 (19.4 %), 2007 

(18.9 %) and 2008 (16.5 %). (Source: INSTAT) 

Around 1.7 million people live on farms but the trend shows that many young people do not 

take over the subsistence farms of their parents or give up their farm activities and move to 

bigger towns; in these cases animals are sold or slaughtered but the land is kept as land 

property offers high financial security; sometimes the land is rented out to neighbours but 

often left alone without any use. 

Albanian farming is predominantly at subsistence level and most of the agricultural product is 

destined to home consumption. As a result only 18 % of crop production, 30 % of livestock 

products and a few percentages of off-farm processed products reach the market. Household 

income range differs between families living in mountain areas (poor) to those in the plains 

(less poor). 

As the centrally planned economy collapsed, the market-driven economy forced farmers over 

night to change their way of farming. Major shifts in agricultural production patterns have 

taken place with a significant increase of animal production that compensated the respective 

drop in crop and fruit production. Current production systems have mainly evolved as 

adjustment to the new situation with very small and fragmented farms which have to face 

other major constraints such as a poor physical infrastructure, lacking state or privately 

operated services, lack of food processing industries and an imperfect market. 

The agricultural sector’s contribution to the GDP can be allocated to the following subsectors. 

Table 1: Sub-sector’s contribution to the agricultural added value (in Lek and %) 

Nr. Description 2000 2006 2007 2008 2009 

Total mio LEK 126116 147306 149802 155669 159080 


1 Livestock 71460 86633 90101 86882 87727 

2 Field crop 42483 42226 40482 45741 47352 

3 Fruit trees 12173 18446 19219 23046 24001 

Nr. % 2000 2006 2007 2008 2009 

1 Livestock 57% 59% 60% 56% 55% 

2 Field crop 34% 29% 27% 29% 30% 

3 Fruit trees 10% 13% 13% 15% 15% 

(Source: MAFCP; Statistical Yearbook 2009) 


Agricultural production and incomes contributes to the GDP; the major sub-group within 

agriculture is the livestock production with about 55 % of the total production of the sector, 

followed by field crops with 30 % and fruit production with 15 %. 

Over the last years the overall output of crops increased whereas the output of livestock 

(animal products) decreased. 

Table 2: Output of animal products 

Output in % 2007 2008 

Cattle 26 21 

Pigs 5 5 

Sheep and goats 15 13 

Poultry 4 5 

Milk 38 42 

Eggs 10 11 

Other animal products 2 3 

Total 100 100 

(Source: INSTAT) 

In the above table it can be seen that milk became more important but in total the meat 

sector is slightly ahead; within the different products cattle decreased the most, followed by 

sheep and goats whereas poultry increased and pigs remained stable. 

Since 1990 the total numbers for cattle, goats and chicken decreased whereas the 

population of sheep and pigs grew slightly. In the period 2000 – 2009 cattle, sheep and goats 

have been declining whereas pigs and chicken have been growing. 


Livestock 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 

Cattle 728 655 634 577 541 494 

Cows 448 430 420 396 360 353 

Sheep & goats 3045 2701 2770 2729 2620 2540 

Sheep 1939 1760 1830 1853 1800 1768 

Milked sheep 1448 1312 1426 1378 1321 1309 


Goats 1104 941 940 876 820 772 

Milked goats 800 701 700 620 610 574 

Pigs 103 147 152 147 161 160 

Sow 10 13 13 16 14 13 

Poultry 5291 6432 6200 7135 8100 8313 

Chicken 4087 4671 4572 4712 5000 5138 


Table 4: Meat production 2000 – 2009 

000/Ton 

90 

80 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

Prodhimi i mishit 

Meat production 

2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 

Gjedhi Cattle Te imtash Sheep$goat Derri Pig Shpendi Poutry 



The meat consumption in Albania is already at 40 kg per capita but still far away from EU 

levels which are more than twice as high. 

Beside the farms there are in the value chain also the slaughtering and processing 

companies. With the exception of a few modern chicken slaughtering facilities there are 

almost no operating slaughterhouses in the country. The consequence or the reason for this 

fact is that animals are slaughtered generally on the farm or in some cases in primitive 

slaughter rooms on farms or in butcher shops. 

A different picture can be seen in the meat processing sector; there are several companies 

active and the bigger companies are very close to EU standards. 

As the local meat is limited and expensive, processing companies are importing 95 % of their 

needed raw meat mainly from Brazil and Canada, usually as deep frozen meat. 

In other words there is no link between Albanian livestock farmers and Albanian meat 

processing industry. More details in the next chapters. 


II. Producers/Farmers 

Cattle 


According to MAFCP there are 297,418 farms keeping animals and out of them 226,442 

farms keep cattle. The total number of cattle is decreasing over the last years; from 634,000 

in 2006, to 577,000 in 2007 and finally to 494,000 in 2009; number of cows is 353,000. 

Major regions with cattle farms are Fier, Elbasan, Tirana and Shkoder. 

On Albanian farms the following – mainly milk oriented - breeds can be encountered; Jersey 

(35 %), Laramane e zeze (Black & White) (29 %), domestic breeds like (15 %), Holstein (13 

%) and Simmental (3 %) and others like Taranteze. (Source: MAFCP, 2008, Technical 

Report) 

The way the cattle are kept on the farms is quite different; on one side there are many small 

subsistence farms with 1 – 2 cows, mainly for milking. Albanian average herd size is 2.4 

cattle. Animals are staying in primitive tied stall barns, often without any windows. All the 

work is done by hand; feeding, removing the manure and also milking. 

On the other side there are specialised farms, many more on milk than on meat, with better 

premises, even of the majority uses old existing buildings which are slightly adapted. 

Nevertheless electricity is often missing, windows very limited so that it is quite dark in the 

stables and just a handful of farms has a dung removal installation – partly because labour is 

so cheap. Again with very few exceptions there are no manure handling, storage and 

treatment facilities. 

The number of farms having more than 5 heads is 2,904 and equivalents to around 1 % of all 

cattle farms. 20 farms in Albania have more than 50 heads; Lushnja is one farm with 200 

calves for fattening. 

Slaughtering of cattle is done partly on the farm by the farmer or the butcher who then takes 

the meat to his shop. Or the butcher does the slaughtering behind his shop as clients want to 

see live animals and are sceptical about readymade de-boned. The correct way foresees 

that cattle are slaughtered in approved slaughterhouses; but given the small number of 

slaughterhouses – around 20 – in operation and the fact that many of them process just 2 

cows a day, one may conclude that slaughtering is not properly done according to the law. 

The liquid and solid waste from slaughtering on the farm or in small slaughter points is 

bought into illegal landfills and taken away by nearby rivers. 

As most farmers are not specialised in meat production they slaughter their animals, calves, 

too young and before gaining sufficient weight. The average live weight of slaughtered calves 

is about 180 – 200 kg (150 - 170 kg), which is economically much too low; sometimes male 

veal is slaughtered with 3 - 4 months and a live weight of 100 kg! Reasons for to early 

slaughtering are the demand for very young animals (of all kinds) and the unavailability of 

cheap fodder. 

Interesting to note that the demand is not expressed in higher prices for younger animals; 

experts from the Agriculture Know-How Transfer Centre in Fushe Kruje mentioned that the 

sales price for 1 kg live weight is around Lek 300 regardless if the animals has 200 or 400 kg. 

To stop the trend slaughtering young animals the MAAR started recently an awareness 

campaign promoting 12 months old calves with 400 kg live weight as the ideal weight for 

slaughtering. 



Actually the corresponding law is prepared but the draft version does not show any 

requirement regarding minimum live weight at time of slaughtering. 

The fattening is also correlated to the milk price as when the milk price is low in May and 

June, farmers tend to fatten calves longer and not to sell cheap milk. 

Table 5: Average live weight of calves when slaughtered 

Regions Calf (kg) 

Berat 160 

Dibër 160 

Durrës 240 

Elbasan 182 

Fier 200 

Gjirokastër 130 

Korçë 180 

Kukës 160 

Lezhë 83 

Shkodër 140 

Tiranë 180 

Vlorë 180 

ALBANIA 166 

(Source: MAFCP, , Technical Report) 

The Focus Group meetings showed a different picture as average live weight of bulls when 

slaughtered was between 200 and 400 kg, with a majority at 300 kg upwards; calves are 

between 6 and 15 months old. 

Price per kg live weight of calves, regardless if male or female is between 300 and 450 Lek; 

around Euro 2 – 3 per kg. Price for bulls and oxen is Lek 280 – 350, around Euro 2 – 2.50 

per kg. Farmers interested in fattening calves buy them often just a few days old for a price 

of Euro 120 – 150. 

Corresponding prices in Austria (March 2010) at farm gate are for bulls (live weight 680 kg!) 

and oxen Euro 1.64- 1.79, female calves Euro 1.21 – 1.37, cows Euro 0.80 – 1.06 and calves 

for slaughtering Euro 2.59 – 2.97; all prices without VAT, which is usually kept by the farmer. 

(Source: Kaerntner Bauer, Markt & Preis, No 9, 2010) 

The Focus Group meetings found out that farmers are selling their animals on specific animal 

markets, in a limited amount to traders, to a big deal to the local butcher shops and none of 

them to slaughterhouses, except one farmer. 

A meat classification system of carcasses of slaughter animals for cattle and veal (SEUROP) 

and related quality payment scheme is not in place and therefore farm output differs 

extremely in weight, colour, fat content and age. 

4 % of the farmers have no education at all, 16 % visited the primary school and 48 % also 

the secondary school. The educational background is limited as there are almost no 

vocational schools which would be needed to train small holders. 



Financing for agricultural investment projects almost cannot be obtained from commercial 

banks, as land ownership and title are not always secure and banks are generally not much 

interested in agricultural land as collateral. Furthermore interest rates are high so that 

financing is brought up within the family, in case that there are investment projects at all. 

The cooperation between farmers, which is starting slowly in advanced countries like Austria, 

hardly exists in Albania. In the previous system farmers have been forced to cooperate and 

now farmers are staunchly independent, even though they could farm more profitably if they 

work together. Suggestions for cooperation could start in division of labour or specialising the 

cattle farms; one produces calves and the other one specialises in fattening them. 

Cattle, especially from subsistence farms, have usually no open yard and graze in the 

neighbourhood of the farm (and along the streets), regardless of the ownership of the land: 

Albania has around 423,000 ha of pastures and around 38 % are still owned by the state. 

The possibilities for expansion of natural pasture are limited due to the geographical situation 

in Albania with substantial mountainous area. Therefore increased feed must come from 

improved production of fodder such as lucernes, maize and other grasses, and improved 

utilization of industrial by-products such as olive cake, bran and soybean meal. Maize silage 

is almost unknown. Forage crops are now grown on 200,000 hectares (Source: MAFCP; 

Statistical Yearbook 2009), or 40 % of the cropped arable land, with lucernes comprising 

about two-thirds of this area. Most is harvested by hand – as agricultural equipment is too 

expensive - and there are problems with weeds and poor storage of hay. 

Generally there is room for improvements – especially on the small farms - concerning 

forage quality, management and feeding practices and also availability of clean seed. 

Grazing resources including pasture, forest, and some agricultural land are fundamental for 

livestock raising, but have degraded significantly over the last 20 years, particularly in land 

close to communities where over-grazing and over-cutting of wood have resulted in reduced 

productivity and soil erosion. (Source: SHUNDI, Andrea Prof.: Country Pasture/Forage 

Resource Profiles Albania; 2006) 

Bigger farms are managed better but have to purchase partly fodder from the market as 

farms are often too small to produce enough forage; that might start even with hay. 

Due to the small size of the herds biogas facilities are not in place. 

Governmental policy aims to stimulate just milk cow farmers. There is no support for meat 

production. Veterinary services are available to limited amount; actually only 61 % of the 

cows are artificially inseminated; one third of the Holstein and Jersey cows is inseminated 

with meat breeds such as Limousin and Charolais exclusively for meat production. 

Summarizing one might say that cattle farmers producing meat are oriented towards the 

fresh market, as imported deep frozen beef is much cheaper and therefore the meat 

processing industry is not interested in local beef. 

Cattle usually do not reach more than 420 – 460 kg live weight and average price therefore is 

Lek 320 -330 / kg. 

Sheep and goats 

55.942 of all farms in Albania keep sheep and 26.175 keep goat; the majority of sheep farm 

also keeps goats. The total number of sheep is almost constant; 1.830.000 in 2006, 

1.853.000 in 2007 and 1.768.000 in 2009; the number of milked sheep is always around 

400,000 lower. Figures for goats look as follows: 940.000 in 2006, 876.000 in 2007 and 

772,000 in 2009; the number of milked goats is always around 200,000 lower. 



Sheep and goat farming plays a key environmental role that includes the natural upkeep of 

less fertile areas, the maintenance of biodiversity, sensitive ecosystems and water quality, 

the fight against erosion, floods, avalanches and fires. In Albania sheep and goat farming 

takes place in less favoured areas, where such farming is very often the only agricultural 

option and which therefore makes a crucial contribution to the economy in rural areas. 

Major regions with sheep and goat farms are Vlore, Gjirokaster, Fier and Elbasan. Goats 

prefer even more mountainous regions and better goat husbandry conditions are therefore in 

Kukes, Diber and Shkoder. 

Albanian farmers keep the following sheep breeds: Tsigaja (45 %), Komune (22 %), Merinos 

(12 %), Ruda (8 %), Mati (5 %), Bardhoka (5 %), Ile de France (1 %) and Awassi (1 %). 

Albanian farmers keep the following goat breeds: Muzhak (70 %), Mat (9 %), Has (6 %), 

Capore (5 %), Dukati (3 %), Velipoja (1 %), Dragobia (1%), Liqenasi (1 %) and Alpine (1 %). 

(Source: MAFCP, 2008, Technical Report) 

The average sheep flock size in the country counts 44 heads, the figure for goats is 45 

animals. Countrywide small flock sizes between 5 and 50 heads are still very numerous as 

many sheep are raised for self-consumption and just 3,177 farmers have between 100 and 

200 heads; only 797 have more than 200 heads. Corresponding goat figures are 914 and 

293. This is less than 10 % of all the farms with small ruminants and these 5,000 farms can 

be considered commercial small ruminant farms. 

Sheep and goats – when produced commercially - are kept in transhumance as long as there 

are enough opportunities for grazing; on some summer pastures farmers built very simple 

barns to shelter animals; in winter times the small ruminants are in better, but simple barns 

on the farm. Small ruminants of subsistence farmers are often kept on the farm. 

Husbandry of small ruminants can be done in several ways: 

1) Extensive system with transhumance from 6 to 8 months (all regions) 

2) Semi-intensive system with transhumance from 5 to 6 months (Gjirokastra) 

3) Grazing system on permanent pastures close to the holding 

4) Grazing on natural pasture in walking distance, with return of sheep or goats in the 

evening to the holding 

The feeding system in Albania is mostly based on grazing, at least for 5 months per year. 

Transhumance requires often daily distances of 30 km; this is very difficult for the animals 

especially if they cannot find water; cases are reported where animals have access to water 

holes every other day. 

In the winter period the “intensive” holdings feed animals with preserved forage (hay, alfalfa) 

and cereals, either produced on the farm or purchased; the harder the winter the more 

concentrates will be used. The feeding costs get also higher when animals must be kept 

longer in stables due to climatic conditions; animals must be fed in stables for a period of 

three to six months. 

In the current production system, the milk constitutes an important part of the breeders' 

income. The milk is either processed directly by the shepherd, or sold to small dairies for 

production of Kaskavall or Feta cheese. The milk makes up to 46 % of the total income from 

sheep. The income from meat is obtained through the sale of lambs and of cull-animals. The 

lambs are always sold by kilogram and best price can be achieved in December and the 

lowest price in August. (Source: UNDP Albania; “Strengthening the Marketing of Small 

Ruminants” Project, 2005) 



A milk sheep could deliver 70 litres of milk annually which equivalents to LEK 7,000. The 

alternative would be to feed a lamb which could be sold with 20 kg live weight for LEK 7,000 

or eventually with 30 kg live weight for LEK 9,000. 

Table 6: Revenues per sheep and year; meat vs. milk 

Lamb (meat) 20 kg 350 Lek/kg 7000 

or 30 kg 300 Lek/kg 9000 

Sheep (milk) 70 l 100 Lek/l 7000 

(Source: Expert’s calculation, 2010) 

Milk versus meat, the utilization of milk 

The decision of using milk either for selling it to dairies or for fattening of the lambs should be 

based on the conversion rate milk to meat and the prices for the different products. The 

current conditions (2010) are summarized in the following table. 

Table 7: Break - even points for milk and meat 

Assuming 6 kg of milk, necessary to grow 1 kg of live weight in lambs, only a meat price of 

600 ALL/kg LW would valorise the milk with 100 ALL / kg of milk, currently paid by the dairy 

processors in Saranda. (right arrow). 

During the top season, at live weight prices of 450 ALL (Saranda, December 2009), the litre 

of milk would be valorised with 75 ALL through feeding, against the 100 ALL which are paid 

by the dairy, hence clearly in favour of selling the milk (central arrow). 

When meat prices fall to the level of 300 ALL / kg LW , the litre of milk is valorised equally 

(break - even) through feeding to the lamb and to selling of milk, at a milk price of 60 ALL / 

litre, which is close to the conditions reported in Korca in the southern part of the country (left 

arrow). 

Although – as shown above - the price relations are clearly in favour of milk production, the 

farmers however underlined that they intend to produce both: milk and meat, probably to 



reduce risks and due to the need and the distribution of cash income (lamb before Christmas, 

monthly milk cash income during January and February). (Source: UNDP Albania / MOLLA A; 

Base Line Study on Production Systems and Economics of Sheep Husbandry in Southern 

Albania, 2010) 

The Focus Group meetings mentioned that lambs when slaughtered are between 3 and 6 

months old and have a live weight between 20 and 40 kg, but mainly between 20 and 30 kg; 

in case that lambs are slaughtered for religious holidays they are usually younger and not 

that heavy. Regular prices are Lek 300 – 350 per kg live weight, in Euro 2.20 – 2.50. 

Corresponding prices in Austria (March 2010) at farm gate are for lambs alive with 40 – 45 

kg are Euro 2.05 (very good quality) and the others for Euro 1.65 per kg. Cull ewe have a 

price of Euro 0.50 per kg alive. All prices are without VAT, which is usually kept by the farmer. 

(Source: Kaerntner Bauer, Markt & Preis, No 9, 2010) 

Average live weight of lambs when slaughtered is in many cases too low but often farmers 

sell lambs early as prices are good before religious holidays and others want to focus more 

on milk and try to sell lamb as early as possible – neglecting the opportunity to feed it with 

something else instead of mother milk. 

Slaughtering of small ruminants is done on the farms, by the butchers in the slaughter points 

and a few in slaughterhouses. Situation is worse than with cattle as animals are smaller and 

easier to slaughter. 

Pigs 

According to MAFCP there are 297,418 farms keeping animals and out of them 42,036 farms 

keep pigs. The total number of pigs is steadely growing and reached 160,000 in 2009 and 

out of them 13,000 mother sows. Most pigs are raised in these small farms and bigger units 

are rare; in 2008, there were about 330 farms with 6 - 10 pigs, 181 farms with 11- 50 heads 

and 17 farms with more than 50 heads. For example DRIZA, a mixed operation and an 

agribusiness key player, keeps 30 sows and thus fattens 600 – 800 pigs per year. 

Around 70 % of the piglets are produced in an extensive production system but 90 % of the 

pigs are grown in an intensive system. 

Some pig fattening farms imported in the past piglets with around 25 kg live weight; as 

animal feed is expensive and therefore the production costs high, they shifted the weight of 

imported animals from 25 kg to 80 kg! Almost finished pigs - 56,000 heads according to 

official statistics - are getting fattened until they are sold, generally within two weeks. 

In Albania the breeds large white and landrace and all cross-breeds can be found. Premises 

reflect the farmer’s attitude if the fattening is just for auto-consumption or a commercial 

business; from big brand new stables with automatic feeding technique to simple barns 

where beside the 2 cows and 5 sheep also 2 pig are fattened. 

Corresponding is also the slaughtering, which might take place in basic slaughter rooms next 

to the fattening stables or in so called slaughtering points close to high frequented roads or 

simply in the backyard of a farm. The slaughter-weights vary between 70 and 120 kg alive. 

Pig husbandry is both a profitable and fragile undertaking; prices are changing rapidly, also 

of imported animals and therefore the business is not predictable. As animal feed is 

expensive and farmers lack of financial resources, early slaughtering of underweight pigs is 

widespread and reduces the profitability. Other obstacle is that livestock farmers have just 

limited knowledge about low-fat meat production which is best preferred. Hence, 20-30 % of 

carcass weight loss because of fat, affects heavily profit reduction. 



A family can make a living off 5 sows but pig production costs are high – this is because the 

majority of feed grains and all soya have to be imported plus these imported feedstuffs then 

attract a tax of 20 %. 

Farmers with 1 or 2 sows feed them on home grown feeds. Maize is commonly grown and 

dried in open racks. Most small farmers have a couple of cows with the milk being used for 

cheese production. The whey is then used as pig feed. Farmers who have 5 sows or more 

buy in pig feed. Buying and selling of pigs is done through numerous local markets. 

Feed is bagged in meal or pellets form and all feeding is done by hand. Most farmers dump 

all the slaughtering by-products and the liquid waste usually runs into the nearby river. 

(Source: LUMB, Stuart; Albanian Pig Production; 2004) 

Poultry 

The total number of poultry is steadely growing and reached 8,313,000 in 2009; out of them 

5,138,000 chickens – after 4,087,000 in 2000. The chicken (broiler) sector, even affected by 

the avian influenza in 2006, is growing fast. According to MAFCP there are 297,418 farms 

keeping animals and out of them 279,522 farms raise chicken. 

As the total number of chickens is around five million, in average there are 18 chickens on a 

farm (Source: MAFCP; Statistical Yearbook 2009). 

The small farmers have just 5 – 10 chicken and grow their own feed such as maize. Chicken 

are usually kept in small premises or together with the other farm animals. Manure storage is 

not known and slaughtering takes place on the farm. Consequently the productivity is low 

and just the surplus is sold in the neighbourhood. 

As it is seen from the data of the following table shows that there are 38 meat oriented 

poultry farms, 17 out of them keep more than 10,000 heads like “Driza Ltd”, Fier with an 

annual capacity of more than 1 million heads, “Uina Ltd”, Librazhd with an annual capacity of 

600 thousand heads, “Agrozo Ltd”, Lushnje, with an annual capacity of about 800 thousand 

heads, “Chicken Farm” Kavaje, with an annual capacity of about 1.5 million heads and 

“Shehu” Korce, with an annual capacity of about 600 thousand heads. 

Table 8: Poultry meat farm 

Poultry meat farm 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 

Total numbers 23 20 29 36 38 

1000 - 5000 Head 11 8 7 17 16 

5000 -10000 Head 3 3 6 5 5 

over 10000 Head 9 9 16 14 17 


Due to the expansion of these centres, broiler production increased from 4,000 tons in 2000 

to 16,000 tons in 2008 and 17,000 tons in 2009 (Source: MAFCP; Statistical Yearbook 2009). 

In 2009 total live weight production in Albania reached 143,000 tons; cattle 66,000 tons, 

sheep and goat 44,000 tons, pigs 16,000 tons and poultry 17,000 tons or 11,88 % of the total 

production. 



This is substantially more than y few years ago but compared to the EU 27 with 23.1 kg / 

capita still low. 

There is no other sector in Albania where the difference between subsistence farmers and 

professional, commercial farmers is that vast like in broiler production. As this is a very 

capital intensive business, big players invest substantial amounts of money and can expect a 

high and especially fast return. 

The production is growing faster than the consumption and self-sufficiency is now at around 

50 %. 

During the focus group meetings 10 very different representatives of chicken farmers have 

been interviewed. There have been farmers producing up to 150 chickens a year and they 

can be considered as self-suppliers. On the other side there have been two farmers selling 

30,000 and 450,000 chicken a year. 

The breeds encountered are called “shot” and “red broiler”. 

The finished chicken had a live weight between 1 and 2 kg, in some cases up to 3 and 4 kg. 

According to the interviewees the chicken sales price per kg live weight varied between Lek 

170 and 700! The average poultry meat price per kg is between Lek 300 and 1,000! 

While small holders consume everything within their family and sell nothing at all, the biggest 

chicken farmer mentioned that he makes Lek 243 million per year; i.e. Euro 1.7 million! 

As mentioned above the small producers with around 100 chickens consumed all of them 

within their families; most of the chickens have been marketed in the village directly to 

consumers or in the next town to consumers – that includes also the farmer producing 

450,000 chickens a year. Rather small quantities have been sold to traders and 

slaughterhouses. 

The commercial poultry farms (layers, broilers, turkeys) use more than 80 % of the total 

150,000 t of finished feed sold in Albania. In an agribusiness sense poultry is the most 

developed, organised and updated sector. 

Through partnership between ENZY food processing company and ABDUA company a 

hatchery poultry farm has been established near Kavaja. The joint operation is producing 

one-day old broiler chicks and has started to supply several Albanian chicken producers. 

Other one-day old broilers are imported from Greece. 

Animal feeding 

The meat production is still done with a low level of inputs; the extensive system of 

production is dominant. Statistics show that about 85 % of cattle, 97 % of small ruminants, 70 

% of piglets and 50 % of poultry, are being bred extensively. This is the situation as the farms 

are very small and financing for improvements usually not available. Even inefficient, the 

husbandry systems, especially of small ruminants and cattle, are generating income. 

More advanced production systems using higher inputs can be found in pork production, 80 

% of the sows, 85 % of poultry, and 20% of cows. Almost 100 % of the poultry farms, 15 % of 

cattle farms and 90 % of pig farms are using high inputs. Cattle ranchers are sometimes 

feeding the animals intensively if they are focused on milk production. 

Animal feed producers 



The three big fodder producers AGROTEK ALB shpk, Aiba Company shpk and Floryhen 

shpk control 70 – 80 % of the market in Albania. They offer different forms of concentrates, 

premixes, microelements, raw materials such as soya bean, fish meal, maize, wheat etc. 

Usually feed products are pressed into pellet forms. Wheat and barley is purchased mainly 

locally, but other inputs such as soya are imported from Greece, Italy and Serbia. Feed is 

produced for cattle, sheep, goat, pigs and poultry; main customers are chicken and pig farms 

with 40 % each; the rest of the products is for cattle, sheep and goat farms. Distribution takes 

place trough partly exclusive distributors and just big farms are served directly. 

Product prices vary between Lek 35 – 100 plus 20 % VAT per kg; estimated market volume 

is 50 – 60,000 tons annually. The feed producers are often certified in ISO 9001:2000, 

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) and other quality management 

programmes. 

As farmers have often limited access to extension services the feed producers provide also 

services in veterinary and zoo technical consulting or assist farmers in getting in touch with 

experts. 

The companies are also involved in “neighbouring businesses” such as egg production or 

slaughterhouses. 

Producers see a major threat for their sector in the limited availability of raw materials; as a 

consequence many products like soya have to be imported and transport costs are high. 

Fodder is cheaper for example in Serbia and as it is cheaper to transport 1 kg of pork meat 

(produced in Serbia) instead of 4 kg of cereals (for the production of 1 kg of pork meat in 

Albania), feed producers are afraid of the increasing competition in this sector; competition 

became stronger with the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) and will get 

more intensive when approaching the European Union. 

The Albanian feed industry offers all kinds of feeds for the local livestock producers, except 

fish and pet food. A few feed mills offer the feed in both mash and pelleted form. Almost all 

raw ingredients are imported like soya (up to 24,000 to / year) and grains, except for 

limestone. The main sources for raw materials are neighbouring countries, mainly Italy and 

Greece but other countries, like France, Romania, Bulgaria, are also used. The biggest 

constraint for direct imports from big producers such as the USA, Brazil and Argentina is the 

fact that Albania’s main harbour, Durres on the Mediterranean Sea, can receive shiploads to 

a maximum of 12,000 metric tonnes. Therefore all ships have to be reloaded in Greece and 

that increases the costs. 

Albanian feed mills are quite familiar with the well-known companies such as: Bühler, Brock, 

Van Aarsen, Big Dutchman, Facco, Chore Times, Pas Reform, Farmer, Chemifarma, 

Lohman, Schauman, etc. 

III. PROCESSING INDUSTRY 

Slaughterhouses 



During the communist regime, meat was a rare and rationed product. It was not even allowed 

to keep animals in private gardens and consequently the meat consumption was very low. 

Therefore also the need for slaughterhouses was limited. 

Today the meat consumption is already at 40 kg per capita but still far away from EU levels 

which are twice as high. With the increasing meat consumption the slaughterhouses became 

more important. 

According to MAFCP only few slaughterhouses in Albania are operating according to 

national legislation. In the 12 administrative regions the situation looks as follows: 

1. Berat 

Kucova: There is a slaughterhouse managed by the municipality which meets somehow the 

requirements. 

Çorovoda: The old slaughterhouse is out of function. A new slaughterhouse is under 

discussion and eventually financed by MAFCP and FAO. 

Poliçan: A new slaughterhouse will is under consideration, financed by MAFCP. 

2. Diber 

With the exception of KEPUTA shpk in Burrel no other slaughterhouse in this district fulfils 

sanitary-veterinary requirements. 

3. Durres 

Durres: There is a private slaughterhouse which somehow meets the requirements, but is 

still missing some equipment. 

4. Elbasan 

Elbasan: The municipality slaughterhouse does not correspond to the national requirements. 

A new slaughterhouse will is under consideration, financed by MAFCP. 

Gramsh: Municipality has a slaughterhouse which meets somehow sanitary-veterinary 

conditions. 

5. Fier 

This district shows 10 operating slaughterhouses, 3 in Fier, 2 in Patos (one for poultry), 2 in 

Ballsh, and three in Lushnja (one of them for poultry); except the one in Divjaka they are 

operating satisfactory according to national standards.. 

6. Gjirokaster 

Gjirokaster: On district level, there is one slaughterhouse under reconstruction. 

Tepelena has one slaughterhouse which is approved by the veterinary service. 

In Permet an Italian NGO - Cooperazione e Sviluppo (CESVI) - established a 

slaughterhouse. 

7. Korce 

Novosella has one slaughterhouse provided with all the facilities in conformity with EU 

legislation (15 heads / hour); it is regularly inspected by the veterinary inspectorate. 

8. Kukes 

Kukes has one public slaughterhouse which is under the privatization process; it has been 

built by a project and meets the sanitary-veterinary requirements for such an activity. 

9. Lezhe 

Lezha has one acceptable private slaughterhouse for cattle and pigs. 

10. Shkoder 

No operating slaughterhouses in this district that fulfils sanitary-veterinary requirements. 



11. Tirana 

Tirana has one private slaughterhouse (KMY/Yzberish), which meets all the requirements but 

is used only for the company’s needs. 

12. Vlora 

No operating slaughterhouses in this district that fulfils sanitary-veterinary requirements. 

UNDP is working on an MAFCP financed slaughterhouse with high standards, but it was not 

in operation by summer 2010. 

(Source: MAFCP; Slaughterhouses in Albania, present situation and prospect; 2006) 

In Albania there are many slaughterhouses not in operation and the remaining less than 20 

slaughterhouses – that correspond more or less to national standards - do often daily 

slaughtering of 1 – 2 cattle and / or few pigs or small ruminants. All slaughterhouses are 

working far below their capacities which often vary from 10 - 40 cattle and 20 - 100 small 

ruminants per day. One of the reasons therefore is that authorities do not force the traders 

and butchers to slaughter there. Therefore slaughterhouses face no or limited raw material 

supply. Usually the facilities are outdated and in most cases they do not even comply with 

the Albanian law. EU standards on hygiene, public authority, traceability and HACCP are not 

fulfilled. 

For example many slaughterhouses only separate the carcass from the entrails, leaving 

other operations to butchers, such as separation of internal organs from the carcass and 

breaking of the bulk and anatomical cuts, that are even harder for authorities to check and 

monitor. (Source: FAO / VERCUNI, A. et ZHLLIMA, E.: The food supply and distribution 

system of Tirana, Albania; 2008) 

As the costs of setting up slaughterhouses depend less on the walls and more on electricity 

and water supply, stainless steel equipment, modern machinery, sufficient space (away from 

housing areas), cooling rooms and more, it is not economically justified to refurbish (very 

poor) existing slaughterhouses. 

All the slaughterhouses in the country are considered Small and Medium Enterprises as they 

have less than 250 employees and a turnover not reaching Euro 50 million annually. 

Regarding the poultry sector there are three major slaughterhouses for poultry in rather good 

condition: 

• Chicken Farm in Kavaja (fully automatic slaughterhouse belonging to Frigofood 

company) 

• AGRIZOO in Lushnja region (half automatic) 

• DRIZA in Fier region (half automatic) 

Smaller ones are located in Korca, Fier, Lushnja etc. 

Slaughtering points 

In Albania there are more than 200 slaughtering points with primitive equipment and without 

control of local authorities. Very often these slaughtering points are located on the roadside 

of major roads like Tirana - Shkoder; usually the facility includes just one room with a 

refrigerator and the meat for sale is hanging outside so that it is good visible to all drivers 

coming along the road. This type of “slaughterhouses” does not correspond to Albanian law 

and several times such slaughtering points or butcher shops have been closed by the police; 

as these facilities are not registered the veterinary inspectors are not entitled to control them 



and therefore the police has to intervene. On the other side it has to be mentioned that some 

of these practices look more hygienic than official slaughterhouses which are usually in a 

rather poor condition. 

Fees for slaughtering 

The fees for slaughtering in registered slaughterhouses have not been much increased since 

2004 and are now according to expert’s opinions as follows: 

• 600 Lek for grown up cattle 

• 500 Lek for calves 

• 400 Lek for sheep and goat 

• 500 Lek for pigs 

The corresponding meat inspection fees are as follows: 

• 400 Lek for cattle 

• 200 Lek for calves 

• 200 Lek for small stock 

• 100-200 Lek for pigs 

Municipalities are in most cases the owner of the existing slaughterhouses and therefore 

they are often poorly managed. In some cases the municipalities rent the facility out to the 

private sector. In both cases the low number of slaughters does not cover the investment 

cost, in many cases not even the running costs. For example there are slaughterhouses with 

adequate equipment to hang up the slaughtered animals but the equipment is not used as it 

does not pay off for a few animals per day. 

Veterinary inspections do not always take place according to the law and make thus doubtful 

slaughters statistics and control of epizootic situation. One reason therefore might be also 

the double authority in the veterinary inspection that source from the Law No.8652 dated 31 st 

July 2000 “On the organization and functionality of local government”. Because of that 

sometimes nobody takes the responsibility to enforce the proper inspections. 

In general, liquid and solid slaughter residues (waste) are not treated according to hygiene 

and environment requirements, but are directly disposed into sewer channels and dumped 

into landfills. 

Keputa 

The company KEPUTA shpk was established in 2003 in the city of Burrel, Diber county. Also 

the slaughterhouse is located there. 

Main activities include buying of live animals in the region and slaughtering; further activities 

are meat processing and trade of fresh meat. The number of employees is 4 and the annual 

turnover roughly Euro 65,000. All the required raw meat for processing is from the internal 

market. 

KEPUTA is the first and the only slaughterhouse in Albania that applied for an EU Number to 

export fresh meat; process still pending. 

Investment plan focuses on new equipment for processing. 

Meat processing companies 

In contrast to the slaughterhouse sector the Albanian top meat processing companies like 

EHW, KMY, TONA and others are doing fine. The 10 biggest processing companies cover 



around 80 % of the market share; they are financially strong and consider further 

investments with and without upcoming IPARD-support. 

Table 9: Investment of the agro-industry in Lek million 

Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 

Investments 121 105 100 67 92 426 170 119 174 35 


Nevertheless the official investments of the agro-industry made just Euro 250,000 in 2009 

(equivalent to 35 million Lek). 

Assuming that the imported beef and pork meat is used by the meat processing industry 

(2007: 6.705 tons beef and 15.139 tons pork meat; 2008: 5.377 tons beef and 11.529 tons 

pork meat), the total raw material input into the meat industry makes 16,906 tons (2008); 

some very little volume of fresh meat could be added, for example for prosciutto. 

Table 10: Sausage and ham production of the agro-industry 

Year 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 

Sausage and 

ham production 

in tons 

4055 9485 9824 9145 10341 8878 


All the 65 meat processing companies (Source: MAFCP; Statistical Yearbook 2009) in the 

country are considered Small and Medium Enterprises as they have less than 250 

employees and a turnover not reaching Euro 50 million annually. 

The meat processed is mainly pork, but also poultry and beef and sausage-making products 

prevail in the production structure. Companies use sophisticated technology in processing 

frozen meat but face limited know how in processing fresh meat. 

The leading companies have a sound documentation of their production including traceability 

and applied HACCP. Albanian standards according to Food Law and orders of MAFCP are 

often applied; even EU standards on hygiene, public authority, traceability and HACCP are in 

place at big companies which are almost ready for EU export licences. 

The premises of the top meat processing companies like EHW, KMY, TONA and others are 

very modern and fulfil in many cases already EC standards. 

A specific weakness is the waste disposal as there are nowhere liquid or solid waste disposal 

systems in place; all the leftovers are bought into illegal landfills and are running into the 

nearby rivers. The companies are aware of this deficit but as veterinary inspection do not 

insist on better technical solutions the situation remains as it is now. 

In Albania there are several important and successful meat processing companies and the 

major companies are presented here in brief. 

EHW GmbH 



The company was established in 1992 on the Motorway to Durres, 4 k west of Tirana, is 

owned by the family Leka and an Italian partner at equal shares and has its main activities in 

processing meat into 70 kinds of salami (würstel, parizier, llukanik, milan, naples, saxony, 

montana and suxhuk salami) ham, ham with chicken fillet, chicken würstel, grill meatballs 

and an Italian San Daniele style ham (prosciutto). The products are sold in 13 EHW butcher 

shops (10 in Tirana) and according to the management EHW has 60 % market share in 

Tirana and 40 % in Albania! 

Due to the high local prices for meat all the required raw meat for processing is imported 

from Brazil, USA and Canada. The imported volume is around 3,500 tons per year what 

results in a daily processed amount of 10 tons. The company employs 200 people and 

makes an annual turnover of roughly Euro 20 million. 

IQNET and other international recognised certification companies have certified the company 

regarding quality management ISO 9001:2000, HACCP, food safety and others. Like the 

other Albanian meat processors also EHW is not importing the meat directly from abroad but 

uses the services of an international trader who purchases the meat on its own behalf or on 

behalf of EHW. 

Next steps will be an enlargement of the product range by additional trading products, 

especially cheese. But also fresh meat is sold in EHW shops; it is delivered there directly 

from 2 - 3 good local slaughterhouses. Main problem is limited supply of local meat and 

especially the inability to export due to non-enforcement of the veterinary law. 

Further investments could cover sewage water plant, especially to get rid of the fat swimming 

on top of this sewage water. 

KMY/Yzberish 

KMY is one of the oldest food processing companies in Albania. It started its activity in 1993 

in the city of Tirana where is located its factory. The number of employees is 330. The range 

of products has been increased over the years. 

Currently the company produces more than 30 high quality products such as salami, ham, 

fresh and frozen meat because the company has a slaughterhouse on its own which is not 

open to the public. 

The required raw meat for processing is imported from: 

• Brazil, USA ,Canada, Uruguay 90 % 

• EU countries 7 % 

• Internal market 3 % 

KMY owns also a farm which is not in operation due to higher costs for raising pork, beef, etc. 

Actually the farm is used only as a collection point. 

KMY’s investments plans are: 

• Capacity expansion 

• Certification according to International Quality Standards to get in line with norms 

required by EU 

Meat Master 

The company was established a few years ago by Mr. Nrdek KIMCA, General Director and 

his two brothers in Shkoder. With one shift the company can process weekly 1,500 pigs and 

500 cattle. The Albanian agriculture does not supply enough animals. Constraints are that 



cattle are getting slaughtered too early, in Shkoder with 200 kg live weight; he would prefer 

500 kg. He furthermore mentioned that small livestock keepers face problems when 

accessing the market. Regarding slaughterhouses there is none of acceptable quality, not 

even the FAO prototypes, and therefore he will invest into a new slaughterhouse outside 

town soon; he will relocate the whole company in a Greenfield investment. 

Darb Univers Frigo Darb 

The company was established as a wholesale trading company by Mr. Rifat KOPLIKU and 

Mr. Ajet XHAFERI 1997 in Shkoder; trade volume is 6 – 7 tons per day. In 2004 they started 

additionally meat processing and nowadays they have a daily output of 2.5 tons. Product 

range includes prosciutto, würstel (to be cooked) and salami. Pork is their main product and 

chicken is just very limited. DARB UNIVERS FRIGO DARB employs 85 people. 60 % of their 

processed products are sold in own shops. But the role of supermarkets is getting more 

important. 

TONA Co 

TONA CO is one of the oldest food processing companies in Albania. It started its activity in 

1992 in the city of Korca. The product range has been increased through the years. Starting 

with only three traditional salami products that were produced before 1998, nowadays the 

company produces more than 40 high quality products such as: sausages, salami, ham, 

fresh and frozen meat, and recently canned meat. The number of employees is 70 and the 

annual turnover roughly Euro 1 million. The company is certified regarding quality 

management ISO 9001:2000, HACCP, food safety and others. 

70 % of the raw meat for processing is imported from America (Brazil, USA, Canada, 

Uruguay) and from 30 % from Europe (Italy, Spain). TONA meat products are now offered 

through a large number of markets and supermarkets to over 70 % of the Albanian 

population. TONA CO LTD has a distributing network spread in all the main cities of Albania. 

TONA CO is an active member of ADAMA (Association of Dairy and Meat Processing 

Companies). The investment plan focuses on a new slaughterhouse. 

DEKON FRIGO 

DEKON FRIGO was established in 1992 in the city of Elbasan; the company employs 20 

persons and is certified regarding quality management ISO 9001:2000, HACCP, food safety 

and others. The raw meat is imported from: 

• Brazil, Canada, New Zealand 90 % 

• Italy, France 10 % 

The company processes chicken, pork and veal and just started an investment phase for 

setting up a refrigerating chamber; financing will be needed for the second phase which will 

cover the completion of refrigerating rooms. 

EL FRIGO 2 

The company started its activities in 1991 and employs 150 persons; the annual turnover is 

roughly Euro 12 million. EL FRIGO 2 is certified regarding quality management ISO 

9001:2000, HACCP, food safety and others. The raw meat is imported from: 

• Brazil, Canada 92-93 % 

• Italy, France 7-8 % 



EL FRIGO 2 produces 45 % of their produce based on chicken, 35 % on pork and 20 % on 

veal. The management is afraid that the EU will not allow imports from Latin America and are 

wondering where they might get their raw meat from. 

Investment plans are discussed to set up an HACCP system. 

FRIGO ALBA 

The company started its activities in 2005. The number of employees is 17 and FRIGO ALBA 

makes an annual turnover of roughly Euro 8 million. Raw meat is imported from: 

• Brazil, Argentina, Canada 90 % 

• Italy, France 10 % 

The company produces 5 % of their produce based on chicken, 75 % on pork and 20 % on 

veal. 

The next investment should focus on building of refrigerating chambers. 

FIX-PRO shpk 

FIX-PRO shpk was established in 2003 in the city of Korca. The range of products includes 

more than 50 high quality products such as: sausages, salami, ham, fresh and frozen meat, 

llukanik etc. The company employs 60 people and makes an annual turnover of roughly Euro 

2 million. The company is certified regarding quality management ISO 9001:2000, HACCP, 

food safety and others. 

FIX-PRO shpk has a distributing network covering all the main cities of Albania. The 

company bases its success in the provision of high quality meat processing ingredients, 

continuous investments in new technologies, promotion of new products, marketing, 

promotional campaigns, etc. The investments plans focus on a new cold storage facility and 

on the enlargement of the production capacity. 

HAKO 

HAKO is one of the oldest meat processing companies in Albania. It started its activity in 

1998 in the city of Tirana where also the factory is located. The company produces more 

than 60 high quality products such as: sausages, salami, ham, fresh and frozen meat, and 

recently canned meat. The number of employees is 120 and the annual turnover roughly 

Euro 1.8 million. All the required raw meat for processing is imported from Italy and other 

countries. HAKO meat products are now offered through a large number of markets and 

supermarkets. 

The investment plan covers: 

• Treatment of water systems 

• Air conditioning systems in working place 

• Chilling rooms 

• Enlargement of working places 

ALBIDEA 

The company ALBIDEA was established in Tirana 2002 and main activity is swine breeding, 

fattening and slaughtering of their own pigs. The number of employees is 10, and the annual 

turnover around Euro 200,000. ALBIDEA is one of Albania’s few fresh meat producers. The 

company sells its fresh meat through franchised shops and to other meat processors. 

Future investments plans include 


1. Building a new slaughterhouse 

2. Increasing of production capacity from 250 sows to 500 until 2012 

BARDHI shpk 


The company started its activity in 1996 in the city of Tirana where also the factory is located. 

The range of products includes among others more than 15 high quality products such as: 

salami, ham, sausages, etc. 

BARDHI shpk employs 12 people and makes an annual turnover of roughly Euro 500,000. 

The company is certified regarding quality management ISO 9001:2000, HACCP, food safety 

and others. 

Actually all raw meat for processing is imported from: 

• 90 % from EU countries (Italy, France, Blegium) 

• 10 % from Brazil, USA, Canada etc. 

BARDHI’s investment plan covers 

• General reconstruction 

• Laboratory for minimal analyzes 

• Vacuum equipment 

ROZAFA KACI shpk 

The meat processing company was established in Shkodra in 2002. The company produces 

the most popular products such as salami, ham and others. 

ROZAFA KACI has 15 employees and makes an annual turnover of roughly Euro 200,000. 

Also this company is certified regarding quality management ISO 9001:2000, HACCP, food 

safety and others. 

The company processed exclusively loclally produce meat! The investment plan focuses on 

all kind of new equipment. 

I.N.C.A Nord Fish 

The company I.N.C.A Nord Fish was established in 2007 and the factory is located in city of 

Lezhe. The main activity is the selection and calibration of natural casing for sausage (pig 

casing, beef casing, horse casing, sheep casing). The number of employees is 30 and the 

annual turnover roughly Euro 700,000. Actually I.N.C.A Nord Fish is processing natural 

casings that origin from Italy, Holland, Poland, Hungary etc. 

The company is collecting and recycling just very small quantities because the waste from 

slaughterhouses is presently dumped illegally into landfills. 

Processing natural casings would help farmers to gain an extra Euro 10 per head of the 

slaughtered animals. Recycling would reduce waste which causes environmental pollution 

today. 

The investment plan includes 

• New equipment for selecting 

• Air conditioning systems in working place 

• Chilling rooms 

• Depurator for water system 



Besides these industrial plants there are also crafts facilities (objects of a smaller production 

capacities) like Profast and Caca in Korca, Arani-Expres Tirana and Erda and Kenedi and 

Arilta-B in Tirana, Isai in Elbasan, Sauli in Fier, Gerosi in Lushnje and ALSA in Vlora finally 

and facilities in the framework of the farms; these two types of processors are not so 

important for the Albanian market. 

IV. Government Policy for the Sector 

According to the Agriculture and Food Sector Strategy 2007 – 2013 the government policy 

for the sector has be characterised as a primarily indirect support, which has focused on the 

following main aspects: 

• Rehabilitation of infrastructure (irrigation and drainage, markets and laboratories) 

• Establishment of a business-friendly environment (privatisation and distribution of the 

land and properties of the former cooperatives and agricultural farms, as well as of the 

assets of the agro-processing enterprises, start of the land cadastre for vineyards, 50 

% completed; next steps will cover the olive cadastre and then the one for agricultural 

land) 

• Support to farmer services such as technical advice, for agricultural extensionists, 

through which thousands of farmers and agriculture specialists were trained and the 

agricultural extension service was restructured towards a new policy and system 

• Institutional strengthening by providing new technical and administrative knowledge 

and experience through training and formal qualifications to technical and 

administrative staff of the Ministry and its structures 

By indirect support is understood the relative lack of credit and grants directed by the 

government to farmers. 

Since 2007 Albanian farmers benefited from a grant scheme that supported fruit and grapes 

production everywhere in the whole country. Furthermore the interest rate for loans in storing, 

processing of farm products (crop, fruits and livestock products), and agricultural machinery 

has been subsidised with up to 70% of interest rate. For investments in the agro-processing 

and export related activities loan guaranties have been provided. 

Regarding livestock there are two further programmes in place since 2009. 

Cattle 

The GOA supported milk farmers with a premium per head for milk producing cows, if the 

farmer owns more than 10 cows, if they are ear-tagged and if the sales a verified through 

official bills. In 2008 Euro 889,000 and in 2009 Euro 1,218,000 have been paid to 843 

respectively 1229 farms; that corresponds Euro 1,055 per milk farm in 2008 and Euro 991 in 

2009. 

A similar support scheme is not in place for cattle meat production. 

Sheep 

The GOA supported sheep milk farmers with a premium of Lek 500 per head for milk 

producing sheep, if the farmer owns more than 50 animals, if they are ear-tagged and if the 

sales are verified through official bills. 

A similar support scheme is not in place for sheep meat production. 



The milk farmer support is ongoing and nowadays the government policy as described in the 

Agriculture and Food Sector Strategy 2007 – 2013 sets one of their priorities in the promotion 

of high level of food safety of agricultural or agro-processing products. This can be realised 

along the following lines: 

• Introduction of obligatory requirements for the implementation of the self-control system 

HACCP and the adoption of ISO standards 

• Improvement of the control of hygiene and sanitation conditions of agribusinesses 

• Registration and effective supervision of animal health 

• Improvement of animal breeding conditions 

The 2010 Albanian budget for agriculture, food and consumer protection is around Euro 11 

million; that can be seen as a small budget compared to the sector’s contribution to the GDP. 

Actually the MAFCP is in the process to get restructured by the newly appointed Minister of 

Agriculture; among others this affects the independent NFA which will be in charge of all the 

veterinary and food control in Albania; but also the set-up of the Regional Directorates 

(RDAFCP) might be overhauled and the existing extension service improved – so that it 

might fit also in assisting farmers to apply for IPARD measures. 

Regarding the NFA there is an EC project “Implementation of the Establishment of National 

Food Authority Albania” (Ref: EuropeAid/122779/C/SER/AL; 2007 - 2011) in the 

implementation phase so that Albania will be in the position to adopt the EU legislation and 

enforce a national legislation on food safety and control issue. The project is dealing with the 

food inspection system, the veterinary and phyto-sanitary border control, the functional 

relations between NFA and Ministries, the capacity of the inspection and laboratory network 

at central and regional level, chain of command in case of emergency situations and other 

relevant issues. 

Land property and reform 

In Albania, land ownership and its redistribution in different historic moments has been the 

main issue accompanying the whole process of development in agriculture. Modification of 

property structures has always been made under the pressure of social-political factors. 

During socialism era, there were only two prevailing forms of land property: State owned 

agricultural enterprises and agricultural cooperatives. The following table offers information 

about the rates of their size increase. 

Table 11: Average size of agricultural enterprises and cooperatives 

Year 

Agricultural 

enterprise 

No Average 

size (ha) 

Agricultural 

cooperatives 

No Average 

size (ha) 

1950 19 668 90 245 

1960 32 1801 1484 212 

1970 50 2218 551 824 

1980 56 2690 422 1260 

1985 68 2557 416 1281 

1987 77 2343 416 1272 

(Source: Expert’s calculation) 



Referring to the table it results that during a 30-year period (1950 - 1980) both agricultural 

enterprises and co-ops experienced a large concentration of land under their property. In 

1980, average size of an agricultural enterprise mounted to 2690 ha and for agricultural coops 

the analogue figure was 1260 ha. By the end of ‘90s, all agricultural land belonged to 

492 agricultural units (both enterprises and co-ops). 

Under these conditions, approval of a law for agrarian reform was a necessity. First moment 

that marked the initiation of the process was the approval by the Albanian Parliament of the 

“Law on land”, No 7501, 19 July 1991. This law conveyed the first steps of an agrarian 

reform law. It involved the issues of land distribution, but constituted ate the same time a law 

for land property. It paved the way to a series of laws that aimed, on one hand, to complete 

land property rights and on the other hand, to regulate normal implementation of the reform. 

Another important problem emerging during the implementation of the agrarian reform is the 

attitude towards Law on Land and the ways of its implementation in different areas of country. 

Attitude towards Law has been accompanied with some problems related to its 

implementation. 

• Law non-implementation or lack of full knowledge of law: In this case, farmers have 

returned to their former property before the socialist system. This phenomenon is 

predominant in some areas, especially in north Albania; interesting to note that the 

today’s average farm size is not bigger in the north than in the south. 

• Partial law implementation or partial knowledge on law: Partial implementation of law 

means that farmers have returned to their formerly properties, but they have seized as 

much land as defined by law. This phenomenon is predominant in central Albania. 

• Correct implementation of law or full knowledge of law means that all households own 

land according to the Low and they also own official documents for all land plots. 

These phenomena have laid the foundation for different conflicts. Most prevailing conflicts 

are: 

• Conflicts between ex-owners regarding property boundaries 

• Conflicts between farmers who didn’t own land, but became land owners during the 

implementation of 1945’s Reform, and the farmers that claim this land because of in 

heritage 

• Conflicts between native farmers and the ones that settled in after 1945 

Regardless of the attitude towards law implementation, process of land privatization 

preconditioned the presence of a minimal size and considerably fragmented farm. This was 

caused by proportional division of land and the amount of land available in every village. 

Implementation of land reform brought about the following picture as regards the farm size. 

Around 58 % of farms are up to 1 ha, 30.1 % has 1-2 ha and only 11.8 have over 2 ha. – 

Experts mentioned that many people giving up their farming activities do not rent out officially 

their agricultural land and therefore the statistics look worse that reality; nevertheless the 

average farm size is too small in Albania. 

Mountain areas 

The Albanian agriculture in mountain areas has its specificities related to their special land, 

climatic, natural, historic and social conditions. As a result of these conditions, farms in these 

areas are smaller, product and input markets are more distant, rural infrastructure is weaker, 

development opportunities are more limited, economic and social development is delayed, 

schooling and education are less advanced and poverty more widespread. For these 

reasons, there are harder development challenges and the policy approaches to agricultural 

development may differ from those applied in lowland areas. 

Value Added Tax 



Farmers in Albania are usually not involved in the VAT scheme; that means they are selling 

their produce without VAT to registered processors. These processors will have to add 20 % 

VAT at the end on top of their final product. The consumer has to pay a 20 % higher price if 

purchasing at official channels instead of the informal market. 

As the government has already realised that the informal market must be transferred fast into 

the formal sector, also this VAT problematic has to be solved. Small farmers in Austria can 

pay their taxes as a lump sum and in this case they are allowed to issue invoices with VAT 

but the farmers do not have to transfer this tax to the government; they can keep it. For the 

farmer the scheme is the same with and without VAT but for the buyer it is better as they can 

deduct the VAT paid to the small farmers from the amount they have to transfer later on to 

the government when selling the final product. 

According to NSDI a value-added tax reimbursement up to 6 % is on its way. (Source: NSDI 

2007-2013) 

V. MARKET AND TRADE 

Availability of products 

In Albania meat of cattle, small ruminants, pigs and poultry is available from local production. 

The produced quantities from slightly more than 300,000 farms are as follows: 

Table 12: Livestock production 

Description 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 

Live weight in 000 tons 112 114 118 123 129 133 137 158 141 143 

Cattle 63 62 64 65 66 68 69 83 66 66 

Sheep & goat 35 37 38 38 42 41 44 46 43 44 

Pig 10 10 11 12 13 15 15 16 16 16 

Poultry 4 4 6 8 9 9 10 13 16 17 

(Source: MAFCP; Statistical Yearbook 2009). 

Above figures show that there was a substantial higher level of production in 2007 than in the 

last two years. Over the last 10 years Albania showed an increase of almost 30 % in the total 

livestock production, especially in poultry and also in pigs. 

Supply chain 

In most countries the primary producers – the livestock farmers – are linked to the 

slaughterhouses and meat processing companies as producers sell their products to the 

processors. The situation is different in Albania. Not many slaughterhouses are in function as 

farmers, traders and butchers are not forced by the MAFCP and the National Food Authority 

to make use of them. Therefore slaughtering is done illegally in uncertified premises; in the 

best case it takes place in primitive slaughter points as it can be seen right next to the 

highway Tirana – Shkoder. 



Furthermore meat prices are high even when the meat comes directly from the farm – 

compared to imported deep frozen meat from Brazil, Italy, Greece and other countries. For 

cheaper prices, reliable supply, standardized quality (sometimes of questionable quality) and 

easier logistics all meat processors in Albania use imported meat which comes into Albania 

by a few importers who have a monopoly on this activity. A few meat processors buy 

additionally Albanian fresh meat on the market to sell it in their own shops eventually as loss 

leader for their main product range based on imported deep frozen meat. 

Summarizing one could say that the Albanian agricultural sector produces almost enough 

meat of ruminants but has huge deficits in pork and chicken. The production will not increase 

substantially as long as the processing sector will not buy the locally produced meat. The 

processors industry will switch to local meat if cheap imports are no longer available and if 

Albanian producers can compete pricewise with the EU member states. 

The links between primary producers and first and second processing companies are in 

practice not in place; investments in slaughterhouses will be a first step to make products 

attractive for meat processors in respect to quantities and qualities. 

Consumption pattern 

As in Mediterranean countries, the staples in Albania are cereals, particularly bread and 

spaghetti, and starchy roots. Potatoes are widely used baked, fried and boiled, especially in 

lower income families. The common foods usually complementing the staples are dairy 

products (milk, butter and cheese), meats (bovine, mutton and goat meat), fats and oils, 

vegetables (tomatoes, eggplants). The types of dishes are mainly cooked vegetables with 

meat (cattle and pig meat), oven-baked or cooked potatoes, cooked beans and leeks, and 

cabbage which is consumed predominantly in winter. Tomato salads with cheese and olive 

oil, along with fried potatoes, eggplants, peppers and lettuce are eaten in the summer. 

There is no significant variation among regions or ethnic groups in staples and dishes. The 

meat consumption is almost at the same level in all Albania. However, there is a higher 

consumption of pork in the catholic areas (Mirdita, Lezha, Shkodra and Burrel), compared 

with the rest of Albania and a higher consumption of mutton in the southern part of Albania 

(Përmet, Tepelena and Vlora). 

In Albania there are huge differences between urban and rural areas. In rural areas, because 

Albanian farms are subsistence farms with low cash revenues, the diet is based on 

consumption of fresh farm products such as tomatoes, lettuce, eggplants, cabbage, peppers 

and dairy products (fresh milk, butter and cheese). In urban areas the population is far more 

dependent upon imported food supplies, not only in respect to meat but also cereals, 

vegetables and oil. 

Between 1988 and 2002 the consumption of meat, fish, milk and eggs more than doubled 

and the meat consumption is still growing as seen in the next table. 

Table 13: Meat consumption 

Annual human consumption of certain agricultural products (kg/head) 

2002 2005 2007 

Total meat (without offal) 19,3 33,4 43,0 

of which: - Beef & veal 13,7 17,9 17,8 

- Pork 0,2 0,5 3,1 

- Poultry 3,0 8,5 7,9 

- Sheep & goats 1,9 1,7 2,0 



(Source: INSTAT (Living Standard Measurement Survey (LSMS), 2002, 2005 and Household 

Budget Survey (HBS) 2006-2007) 

This table gives details about the various types of meat consumption but does not explain the 

remaining rest which was around 10 kg in 2007; most likely the given figures are based on 

local production and the missing difference is covered by imports of live animals and meat, 

often in deep frozen form. (See also below Table 13) 

As comparison the total meat consumption (including poultry) in Austria was 2007 100.2 kg / 

capita and 2008 98.4 kg / capita (Source: http://www.ama-marketing.at/home/groups/7/ 

Pro_Kopf_Verbrauch_Fleisch.pdf) 

Actually the meat consumption is low, even compared to other countries on the Western 

Balkans. One important reason for low meat consumption is the high cost of meat products 

in comparison to other products; at the same time that explains why the consumption of 

relatively cheap poultry meat is growing so fast. 

The sheep and goat meat is expensive, mainly because keeping of small ruminants is not at 

the state of the art; breeding is not consequently done, fertility and reproduction rate is low 

and the slaughtering weight of lambs is too low; often just 11 kg – especially before religious 

holidays Furthermore as a result of migration – especially of young people - into the cities, 

the interest in keeping small ruminants is declining. Successfully pilot projects - as presently 

implemented by UNDP are supporting the establishment of a food chain for lamb meat – will 

present new ways of income generating opportunities trough lamb meat. Traditionally on the 

Western Balkans eat a lot of sheep and goat meat. Having in mind not so much the EU 

figures of average sheep consumption of 2.3 kg/capita (2009) but more the consumption 

habits in neighbouring Greece where the average sheep meat consumption reached 7.4 kg / 

capita in 2007, there is potential for further increase. 

The outlook for meat producers is very good if one assumes that the Albanian meat 

consumption will get closer to the Austrian one; that means the consumption might more 

than double in the future. 

Legal framework for trade 

Albania became in 2000 a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and in 2007 it 

entered the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA). Regarding the EU accession 

Albania is a potential candidate country and submitted its application for EU membership on 

28 April 2009. 

The European Union generally allows imports of fresh meat and meat products into the 

European Union if the veterinary certification is in place which is based on the recognition of 

the competent authority of the non-EU country by the Directorate-General for Health and 

Consumer Protection. This formal recognition of the reliability of the competent authority is a 

pre-requisite for the country to be eligible and authorized for export to the European Union. 

Legally legitimate and adequately empowered authorities in the exporting country must 

ensure credible inspection and controls throughout the production chain, which cover all 

relevant aspects of hygiene, animal health and public health. 

For meat and meat products from all species, countries of origin must be on a positive list of 

eligible countries for the relevant product. The eligibility criteria are: 

• Exporting countries must have a competent veterinary authority which is responsible 

throughout the food chain. The Authorities must be empowered, structured and 



resourced to implement effective inspection and guarantee credible certification of the 

relevant veterinary and general hygiene conditions. 

• The country or region of origin must fulfil the relevant animal health standards. This 

implies that the country should be a member of the World Organisation for Animal 

Health (OIE) and should meet that organisation’s standards and reporting obligations. 

Adequate veterinary services must ensure effective enforcement of all necessary 

health controls. 

• The national authorities must also guarantee that the relevant hygiene and public 

health requirements are met. The hygiene legislation contains specific requirements on 

the structure of establishments, equipment and operational processes for slaughter, 

cutting, storage and handling of meat. These provisions are aimed at ensuring high 

standards and at preventing any contamination of the product during processing. 

• A monitoring system must be in place to verify compliance with EU requirements on 

residues of veterinary medicines, pesticides and contaminants. 

• A suitable monitoring programme must be designed by the competent authority and 

submitted to the European Commission for initial approval and yearly renewal. 

• Imports are only authorised from approved establishments (e.g. slaughterhouses, 

cutting plants, game handling establishments, cold stores, meat processing plants), 

which have been inspected by the competent authority of the exporting country and 

found to meet EU requirements. The authority provides the necessary guarantees and 

is obliged to carry out regular inspections. 

• For the import of meat from bovine, ovine or caprine animal species (cattle, sheep and 

goats), exporting countries have to apply for determination of their BSE status. This 

status is based on a risk assessment and is linked to specific BSE-related import 

conditions. 

• An inspection by the Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office is necessary to confirm 

compliance with the above requirements. Such an inspection mission is the basis of 

establishing confidence between the EU Commission and the competent authority of 

the exporting country. 

Having all these requirements in mind it is clear that without a well established National Food 

Authority Albania will continue to face this trade barrier and will not be able to export meat. 

Agro-food trade balance 

The table below shows that an increased international trade also bears some risks. On one 

side Albania was able to export more products than in the past but also many more products 

came into the country due to missing or reduces import tariffs. 

Table 14: Agro-food import and export 

Trade Units 2005 2006 2007 2008 

Agro-food trade mill. EUR 428 502 735 651 

Agro-food exports mill. EUR 46 54 76 60 

Agro-food imports mill. EUR 382 448 659 591 

Agro-food trade balance mill. EUR -335 -394 -584 -531 

Share of agro-food trade 

in: 

- Total exports % 11 11 10 9 

- Total imports % 89 89 90 91 



Note: Agro-food trade according to Combine Nomenclature of Custom Tariffs (CNCT). 

(Source: General Directory of Customs, Albania) 

Table 15: Import of agricultural and food products by quantity and value 

Import of agricultural and food products 

Unit 2007 2008 2007 in 000 LEK 2008 in 000 LEK 

Livestock 7.391.160 9.023.400 

cattle 000 head 52 64 2.276.366 2.479.392 

poultry 000 head 4.476 5.574 210.316 268.586 

pigs 000 head 31 56 387.082 672.386 

equidae 000 head 0 0 9.300 670 

other live animals 000 head 92 113 48.794 72.005 

beef Ton 6.705 5.377 858.203 846.315 

pork Ton 15.139 11.529 1.796.132 1.594.187 

mutton Ton 596 599 80.163 90.697 

poultry meat Ton 14.968 19.295 1.515.161 2.203.047 

giblets Ton 1.002 1.805 145.318 670.778 

stomach animals Ton 

000 

240 366 47.273 91.544 

eggs 

pieces 81 91 10.109 21.124 

honey Ton 18 27 6.943 12.669 

If one assumes that the 64,000 heads of imported cattle are used for meat and if each cattle 

has around 380 kg meat, than that would result in 24,320 tons. Adding now the imported 

beef of 5,377 tons, the total import would come to 29,697 tons. This total import figure 

divided by 3 million inhabitants makes an extra 10 kg per capita and that figure could explain 

the missing difference in Table 11: Meat consumption (see above). 

Table 16: Export of agricultural and food products by quantity and value 

Export of agricultural and food products 

Unit 2007 2008 2007 in 000 LEK 2008 in 000 LEK 

Livestock 374.585 1.043.400 

cattle 000 head 

poultry 000 head 

pigs 000 head 

equidae 000 head 

other live animals 000 head 78 79 73.817 63.771 

beef Ton 

pork Ton 

mutton Ton 

poultry meat Ton 1 5 116 1.417 

giblets Ton 47 23 33.389 40.112 

stomach animals Ton 

000 

229 1.235 49.338 615.683 

eggs 

pieces 33.309 46.743 217.925 321.716 

honey Ton - 5 - 701 



The government will have to create better export opportunities as the gap is getting much too 

wide and there are no more opportunities to stop the imports. 

VI. LEVEL OF ATTAINMENT OF RELEVANT EU STANDARDS 

This chapter deals with occupational health and safety, environmental issues, food and feed 

safety, animal health, animal welfare. 

Occupational health and safety 

In the staff working document entitled “Albania 2009 Progress Report” it is mentioned that 

there has been progress in the area of health and safety at work as the government adopted 

in May 2009 the National Strategy for Occupational Health and Safety 2009-2013 and its 

accompanying action plan. The Occupational Health and Safety section of the Ministry of 

Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (MLSAE) was upgraded and entrusted with 

the implementation of the strategy and action plan. An internal audit department was 

established in the State Labour Inspectorate (SLI) in April 2009. The first of the 24 local 

inspectorates planned to strengthen the SLI was established in April 2009. 

The Albanian Law No 10138 dated 11.05.2009 for the Public Health passed recently the 

parliament but enforcement of occupational health and safety remains poor and the number 

of accidents at the workplace is high, particularly in the construction, mining and mineral 

processing sectors. The labour inspection system does not cover the agricultural sector and 

it becomes clear that the occupational health and safety requires substantial improvements, 

especially in slaughterhouses and Albania has to consider these issues for farmers and farm 

workers. 

Environment 

Regarding environmental standards the “Albania 2009 Progress Report” complains that there 

has been limited progress in the area of horizontal legislation. Albania adopted legislation in 

January 2009 to ratify the Protocol on Control of Emissions of Nitrogen Oxides or their 

Transboundary Fluxes to the 1979 Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air 

Pollution. Two public hearings were held with regard to the project for the construction of a 

thermal power plant in the Durres area. Notifications of public hearings were published on 

the website of the Ministry of the Environment, Forest and Water Administration (MEFWA), 

the website of the Aarhus Centre and local newspapers. However, the new draft Law on 

Environmental Protection, which incorporates a number of important Directives such as IPPC, 

LCP, Seveso II, public participation and the Water Framework Directive, has not yet been 

adopted. The new draft law on Environmental Impact Assessment is also pending adoption. 

No progress can be reported as regards air quality, environmental noise and just some 

progress in the area of waste management. The rehabilitation of toxic hot spots progressed 

and 35 new untreated hot spots have been identified. The construction of new landfills is 

underway. However, legislative development is lagging behind. A strategy for waste 

management has not yet been established. Uncontrolled dumping and burning of waste still 

persists and is particularly acute in rural areas. Substantial efforts are required to reduce 

waste generation and promote recycling. 



There has been some progress as regards water quality. Two wastewater treatment plants 

became operational, work on another one was completed and three more are under 

construction. However, surface waters are still affected by uncontrolled discharges of solid 

waste. The national strategy for water supply and sewerage has not been adopted. 

Implementing legislation and action plans for legislative approximation to the Water 

Framework Directive and the Nitrates and Urban Waste Water Directives are pending 

adoption. 

There was some progress on nature protection. The total coverage of protected areas 

increased to 12.58 % of the territory with the designation of the ‘Bredhi Hotoves-Dangelli’ 

ecosystem as a national park. In January 2009 the government approved a decree on the 

criteria for the establishment of the biodiversity inventory and monitoring network. 

There was no progress as regards industrial pollution control and risk management. No 

developments can be reported in the area of chemicals and genetically modified organisms. 

Efforts are required to enhance inter-ministerial coordination to monitor the use of chemicals 

present on the market. There is no central register of chemicals and genetically modified 

organisms. 

Efforts continue to be required to strengthen the administrative capacity of all institutions 

involved in environmental policy making and to implement the 2008 cross-cutting strategy for 

the environment. Inter-institutional cooperation and coordination remain poor. Additional 

monitoring and inspection capacity continue to be required at regional level. Overall, there 

have been some positive legislative developments but implementation and enforcement 

remain weak. Preparations in the field of environment are advancing slowly but remain at an 

early stage for a number of sectors. 

Summarising one might say that there are no rules and regulations in place to improve 

environmental standards on farms in Albania. The CAP ensures that its rules are compatible 

with environmental requirements and that CAP measures promote the development of 

agricultural practices preserving the environment and safeguarding the countryside. Farmers 

are encouraged to continue playing a positive role in the maintenance of the countryside and 

the environment. 

This is achieved by a) targeting aid at rural development measures promoting 

environmentally sustainable farming practices, like agri-environment schemes and b) 

enhancing compliance with environmental laws by sanctioning the non-respect for these laws 

by farmers through a reduction in support payments from the CAP. 

Especially with regard to the storage of manure and slurry the level of environment protection 

is very low in Albania. Several visited farms had not adequate storage places for manure or 

slurry. First of all creating awareness on this issue by information and training will be 

necessary. But also on the processing side the handling of solid and liquid waste is in a poor 

state as there is usually no waste disposal system in place; leftovers are dumped into illegal 

landfills and run into nearby rivers. Finally it must be mentioned that Albania has no 

rendering or incineration plant! 

Food safety 

For the time being the national food hygiene laws and regulations in the Albanian meat 

sector are defined by the following laws and orders: 

• Law No 9308 from 4 th November 2004 “For the veterinary service and inspectorate” 

(Mbi sherbimin dhe inspektoriatin veterinar) which regulates hygienic conditions and 

food safety aspects; 



• Order of Minister No 292 from 12 th June 2006 „Sanitary conditions in fresh meat trade” 

(Mbi kushtet shendetesore per vendosjen ne treg te mishit te fresket) 

• Law No.9863 from 28 th January 2008 “Food law” (Per ushqimin) which deals with the 

norms and general directives for hygiene and food safety and feed for animals; this law 

is harmonized with the EU Regulation 178/2002 and has set a 5-year transition period 

for the full implementation of all its provisions; 

• Different internal orders and regulations from the ministry; 

• Law No 9135 from 11 th September 2003, “For the consumer protection” which defines 

the consumer‘s right, relationship between consumers and producers, shoppers, 

suppliers, service providers, and institutions of the market control, and standardization. 

The objective of the law is protection of the health, environment, assurance of the life, 

and the consumer’s right. 

The MAFCP is working within the framework of CARDS 2005 to produce a new order of 

minister on food safety for meat sector which will be composed according to the following EC 

regulations: 

• Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 

January2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, 

establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in 

matters of food safety 


April 2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs 


April 2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin 


April 2004 laying down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products 

of animal origin intended for human consumption 


April 2004 on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with 

feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules 

The new Albanian formulation will reflect all the mentioned EC regulations, the GOA will 

transpose relevant EU legislation in national law which should enter in force by end of 2010. 

According to the “Albania 2009 Progress Report” there has been limited progress in the area 

of food safety and veterinary and phyto-sanitary policy. The National Food Authority was 

established, but it is not yet operational due to staffing problems (which is still true in May 

2010). In the food sector implementing legislation has been adopted mainly in the areas of 

import requirements for animal products (certificates), flavourings and food for particular 

nutritional uses. Some progress can be reported on laboratory capacity, particularly as 

regards histamine and residues. However, legal limits for microbiological contamination of 

raw milk are still significantly less stringent than EU standards. 

A very limited amount of legislation was adopted in the veterinary sector. The identification of 

bovines is not yet finalised and deficiencies in the registration of their movements jeopardise 

the utility of the current database. The current registration of small ruminants is not used for 

epidemiological purposes. No progress can be reported in the animal welfare sector. The 

legislative framework remained substantially unchanged in the phyto-sanitary sector. Only a 

few legislative acts were adopted, mainly in the area of plant protection products. Overall, 

there has been little progress in the areas of food safety and veterinary and phyto-sanitary 

policy. The legal framework improved, but compliance with EU standards remains poor. 

There has been some progress in the area of fisheries. ... 

Animal health and welfare 



After the 1990s, the transition from big state enterprises to small home-based ones created 

favourable premises for the introduction and persistence of different pathogens and for the 

change of the general epidemiological situation in the country, as the risk for public health 

from zoonotic diseases increased. Moreover, the insufficient control of animal movement has 

brought about a rapid increase of animal disease prevalence in the whole country. Albania is 

currently free from foot and mouth disease, cattle contagious pleuromonia, small ruminants’ 

pest, pig vesicular disease, as well as African swine fever. 

Some diseases included in the list of the World Organisation of Animal Health are present in 

the country and cause important economic losses to farmers, such as: Newcastle disease, 

classical swine fever, cattle anaplasmosis, cattle babesiosis, anthrax, tuberculosis, cattle 

brucellosis, brucellosis melitensis, contagious agalaxis, varoatosis in bees etc. As a result, 

human infection cases from zoonotic diseases have increased: about 400 cases of 

salmonelosis, about 700 cases of brucellosis, about 100 cases of leismanosis, and 60 cases 

of anthrax. 

The screening of animals for the above infections on more than a third of the total animal 

population (brucellosis of small ruminants, cattle tuberculosis) has shown a prevalence from 

0.64-5% for brucellosis melitensis and of 0.19% for tuberculosis. For this reason, even the 

control of these infections is very difficult. 

National programmes are prepared and implemented by the veterinary service for the control 

of animal diseases, especially for zoonotic diseases with risks also for humans. The 

veterinary budget is used for the control of diseases like tuberculosis, brucellosis, anthrax, 

and classical swine fever; the national programmes for the monitoring of residues, the 

monitoring of water and molluscs, and the animal identification and livestock farm registration 

system. About 10% of the total veterinary budget is used for emergencies (such as outbreak 

and elimination of illnesses, avian influenza). - All other illnesses present in Albania, whether 

infectious or parasitic of a non-endemic character are covered by the farmers themselves. 

Table ??: Status of main infectious diseases that affect animal health in Albania 

Disease Occurrence, Surveillance and Control 

Anthrax Occurs regularly. Control policy is to vaccinate animals in 

villages where disease has been confirmed and prophylactic 

vaccination in villages that have been classified as historical 

foci of disease. 

Bovine tuberculosis Could be increasing in frequency. Partial annual screening of 

cattle and removal of reactors 

Brucellosis in cattle Appears to be increasing in frequency, definitive diagnoses of 

Br. melitensis, Br. abortus not confirmed. Partial screening of 

cattle and removal of reactors, vaccination of young stock to 

Brucellosis in small 

ruminants 

be introduced 

Widespread and present in 22 districts. Partial screening of 

small ruminants and removal of reactors combined with 

vaccination of young replacement stock. 

Classical Swine Fever Reported since 1996 but believed to be enzootically 

established in small backyard pig herds in north Albania 

Newcastle disease Appear to occur each year causing serious losses in village 

backyard poultry flocks. Active surveillance implemented by 

owners in industrial flocks. 

Highly Pathogenic Avian 

Influenza 

Last reported in 2006, partial active surveillance implemented. 

Foot and mouth disease Last reported in 1996 



Rabies Last reported in 2006, active surveillance in wildlife (foxes, 

wolfs and bats) 

Contagious bovine 

Last reported in 1933 

pleuropneumonia 

Sheep and goat pox Last reported in 1934 

Rinderpest Last reported in 1934 

Source: European Union – Albania subcommittee on agriculture and fisheries, Tirana, 2 nd 

March 2010 

The competent authority (AHPPD) for animal health covering the whole of the Republic of 

Albania approved the contingency plans for following diseases in 2008 and 2009: 

• Contingency plan of CSF disease is updated 

• Contingency plan of ND disease is updated 

• Contingency plan of AI disease is approved 

• Contingency plan of Rabies disease is approved 

• Contingency plan of FMD is update 

Source: European Union – Albania subcommittee on agriculture and fisheries, Tirana, 

2 nd March 2010 

Having visited several livestock farms in Albania it is obvious that Animal health and welfare 

issues are not taken serious by most farmers; there are many stables with no or too few 

windows, manure is not removed properly, animals are often not registered and not 

vaccinates and so on. 

The European Union intends to protect and raise the health status and condition of animals 

in the Community, in particular food-producing animals, whilst permitting intra-Community 

trade and imports of animals and animal products in accordance with the appropriate health 

standards and international obligations. 

• Preventive health measures on intra-community trade and imports of: 

• live animals 

• semen, ova and embryos 

• products of animal origin 

• Community legislation on animal diseases: 

• new Animal Health Strategy to improve the prevention and control of animal 

disease in the EU 

• control measures, to be taken as soon as the presence of a disease is suspected 

• eradication and monitoring programmes, for the diseases that are already within the 

Community 

• EU financial contribution 

• Other activities: 

• Community Veterinary Emergency Team 

• identification measures, to guarantee the traceability of the animals 

According to the European Union animals are sentient beings. The general aim is to ensure 

that animals need not endure avoidable pain or suffering and obliges the owner / keeper of 

animals to respect minimum welfare requirements. 

• Community Action Plan on the Protection and Welfare of Animals 2006-2010 

• EU legislation on the protection of animals 

• on the farm (European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming 

Purposes, protection of farmed animals (of chickens kept for meat production, of 



laying hens, of pigs, of calves intended for slaughter and the keeping of wild 

animals in zoos) 

• during transport (community standards on staging points) 

• at time of slaughter or killing (European Convention on the protection of animals at 

the time of slaughter, protection of animals at the time of killing, protection of 

animals used for experimental purposes) 

• Related international issues 

• International Animal Welfare Issues 

• Council of Europe 

• OIE 

• Other activities like implementation control of legislation or scientific advice 

Since the beginning of 2010 an EU funded project “Improving the Consumer Protection 

against Zoonotic Diseases in Albania” (EUROPEAID/128304/C/SER/AL) is going on and is 

supporting beside many other aspects also the area of veterinary legislation to assist MAFCP 

in updating of the veterinary law taking into account the new legal and institutional framework 

of food safety in Albania. 

In Albania the legislation on animal health and welfare aspects as well as disease control is 

in place but often not enforced; for example animal movements are not controlled at all. 

However, very often policies remain insufficiently implemented and insufficiently enforced 

mainly due to a lack of advocacy groups and due to weaknesses of public administration. It 

seems that political ambitions are much stronger than what public administration can 

manage. (Source: SKRELI, 2007) 

Official statements are not available as the FVO had no missions to Albania in relation to 

animal welfare since 2004. 

Competent authorities 

The main organisations (competent authorities) in charge of control for food and feed safety, 

animal health and animal welfare in Albania is the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and 

Consumer Protection. For the time being there are the following institutions involved on 

regional and local levels involved: 

• Regional Directory of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection 

• Regional Directorate of Public Health 

• Local Veterinary Office 

Furthermore there are several laboratories dealing with the safety issues such as 

• National Reference Laboratory, Food Safety & Veterinary Institute 

• National Reference Laboratory, Public Health Institute 

• Regional Veterinary Laboratories 

• Regional Food Laboratories 

• Regional Public Health Laboratories 

Actually the NFA is in the process of getting active by hiring office space, staff and by taking 

over several functions which have been under several authorities in the past. 

The below chart demonstrates how the organisation of food safety, animal health and plant 

protection will look alike by the end of 2011; the upcoming 12 regional Food and Plant 

Protection laboratories will carry out all chemical and physical analyses on food of animal 

and non – animal origin. 


SITUATION ON 2011 

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 

AND SCIENCE 

(MoES) 

PLANT PROTECTION 

DEPARTEMENT(Albanian 

Agriculture University) 

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, 

FOOD AND CONSUMER 

PROTECTION 

(MoAFCP) 

IFSV 

11 VETERINARY 

LABORATORIES 

LEGEND 

IFSV – INSTITUTE OF FOOD SAFETY AND VETERINARY 

NFA – NATIONAL FOOD AUTHORITY 

BIP- BORDER INSPECTION POST 

-MoAFCP 

-MoES 

DIRECTORATE OF FOOD 

SAFETY AND CONSUMER 

PROTECTION 

(Policy and legislacion) 

GENERAL DIRECTORATE 

OF FOOD SAFETY AND 

CONSUMER PROTECTION 

DIRECTORATE OF ANIMAL 

HEALTH AND PLANT 

PROTECTION 

(Still inspection) 

ANIMAL HEALTH 

SECTOR 

PLANT 

PROTECTION 

SECTOR 

12 FOOD 

LABORATORIES 

NFA 

GENERAL 

DIRECTORATE 

12 REGIONAL 

DIRECTORATES 

OF NFA 

9 BIP 


FOOD SAFETY 

INSPECTORATE 

ANIMAL HEALTH 

INSPECTORATE 

PLANT 

PROTECTION 

INSPECTORATE 

(Source: EC Health and Consumers Directorate-General, Directorate F - Food and 

Veterinary Office, DG (SANCO) /8127/2009 - CP Pre – Draft, Country Profile of Albania on 

Food and Feed Safety, Animal Health, Animal Welfare and Plant Health; 2009) 

National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI) 2007-2013 

Albania shows a low level of attainment of relevant EU standards. In the National Strategy for 

Development and Integration (NSDI) 2007-2013 the European Commission is quoted 

regarding progress against the accession criteria such as European standards: On fulfilling 

the European standards and establishing administrative and institutional structures to 

guarantee the implementation of the acquis communautaire, the creation of new structures to 

co-ordinate the substance of EU reforms and manage the resources to implement them is 

appreciated. 

The NSDI continues with strategic priorities and goals and states that the public programmes 

that support agricultural and rural development will be consolidated in accordance with EU 

practices, with the aim to support sustainable development in this area, and the Payments 

Agency will be established in the long term. Modern systems of food safety will be introduced 

gradually and the institutions that guarantee its standards will be consolidated. 

The challenges in agriculture are described as follows: The agricultural sector suffers from 

the small size of farms and the fragmentation of farm land, which is a barrier to production 

and marketing. This could be addressed through the development of a system of collection 

points and wholesale markets. Product competitiveness is low, as the cost is relatively high 

and output quality is low, which is caused primarily by the inadequate level of technologies 

and agricultural knowledge but also by the low level of farmer organisation, the relative lack 

of market information and the underdeveloped commercial infrastructure. 



Currently, export opportunities for agricultural and agro-industrial products are very 

constrained as a result of the low level of agricultural and agro-processing industrial 

production; the lack of trade facilitations; the low food safety standards; and the weak 

competitiveness. Meeting the veterinary, phyto-sanitary and food security conditions of the 

SAA and Interim Agreement will be a difficult challenge. The standards to be achieved relate 

to a very broad area covering production, marketing, safety and quality certificate conditions 

for goods and services, processing, and inspection and control services. 

According to NSDI the agricultural policy of the GOA has the following strategic priorities: 

• Increase financial support 

• Improve the management, irrigation and drainage of land 

• Improve the marketing of agricultural and agro-processing products 

• Improve the level and quality of technologies, information and knowledge applied by 

farmers and agro-processing 

• Increase the quality and safety of agricultural and agro-processing products 

Agriculture and fisheries 

Some progress was achieved in the area of agriculture and rural development policy. The 

Agency for Agriculture and Rural Development was set up as the paying agency to manage 

direct support to agriculture and rural areas. The Agency has 86 staff and operates in all 12 

regions of the country. It provides a good starting point towards the establishment of an 

IPARD Agency. Preparations for IPARD advanced with the appointment of the prospective 

Managing Authority in June 2009. However, the Rural Development Strategy will require 

substantial improvements to serve as a basis for the IPARD programme. 

The 2009 budget for the direct support scheme remains stable at € 7 million. Direct support 

to farmers resulted in an increase in plantations of permanent crops such as fruit, olive and 

citrus trees and vineyards. Other direct support measures covered, among other things, drip 

irrigation, organic certification, mushroom culture and snail breeding. There have been efforts 

to improve quality and marketing overall. ... The Agriculture Information Centres received 

additional material resources and organised promotion activities. However, land 

fragmentation continues to hamper efficient farming and results in low productivity and 

incomes. Uncertainties about property rights hinder the development of a functioning land 

market. Structural weaknesses such as poor infrastructure and marketing systems, lack of 

cooperation between producers and business sectors and insufficient knowledge about food 

quality and safety standards hold back the development of the agricultural sector. The share 

of the total budget allocated to agriculture remains small. The trade deficit in agricultural 

products continued to increase. Overall, the agricultural sector remains weak. It lacks 

competitiveness and has difficulties facing competition from imported goods. 

Farm level 

Farmers often do not respect Albanian standards and regulations (for example environmental 

or occupational safety) and the authorities in charge often do not enforce them properly. Also 

the implementation of quality standards leave some room for improvements. 

Common EU standards such as the Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) have no equivalent yet 

in the Albanian law. 

Processing level 



The performance of Albania on the areas of quality, hygiene, and food safety at farm and 

slaughterhouse level leaves room for substantial improvements. The situation is better with 

the meat processing companies, even if none of them has an EU approval for exports (EU 

export certificates). 

The GOA is aware of the requirements of the European Union and of the necessity to 

transpose EU legislation in national law. This has been partly done but even in cases where 

it was done the enforcement of these laws does not take place or just in a limited amount. 

VII. PAST TRENDS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN TERMS OF INVESTMENT 

Past trends 

In former days the agricultural policy was not very much oriented towards meat production 

and processing as the average meat consumption was around 20 kg per year and capita. 

Keeping of private livestock was forbidden and all facilities like livestock farms, 

slaughterhouses and meat processing plants have been state-owned. After the collapse of 

the system none of the slaughterhouses and meat processors continued to operate. 

Actual situation 

On the farm level there are two categories of farmers; the subsistence farmer who was not 

investing in the past and who will not invest in the future simply because he has not the 

financial means to do so. Repair work is done to keep the small farms running but for 

additional, more future oriented investments there are no funds available. (This might also be 

the case for investments under IPARD measures for which the pre-financing capacity is not 

in place.) 

The other group of farmers are the commercial ones with more than 20 cattle heads or 

10,000 chickens, etc.; these farmers have the funds and invest in improved production 

facilities; especially the capital intensive poultry farms have invested substantial amounts of 

money and all these rather commercial farms will also apply for IPARD measures. The trend 

was to get bigger units and this will continue, eventually with investments in vertical 

integration such as fodder production (own feed mills) and / or slaughtering lines (and also 

steps towards better market access which could mean own shops). So far both groups have 

not invested in manure storage or environmental issues. 

Whereas there are no data available on the farm sector, some key figures could be found 

regarding the agroindustry in general and their investments. 

Table 18: Investments in Albanian agroindustry 

Description 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 

Agroindustry Investiment Mln. Lek 898 2917 2045 3052 2063 612 

Number of enterprises 1844 2060 2053 2040 2117 2081 

Number of meat processing enterprises 62 59 57 69 75 65 

Investments of meat processing sector Mln.Lek 121 426 170 119 174 35 

Number of employees 9076 9865 9995 10293 10919 10262 

Value of products (price of 2006) Mln. Lek 27990 42790 46431 47970 51353 51693 




The investments of the meat processing enterprises are quite balanced over the years, in 

sharp contrast to the remaining agroindustry. 

The processing sector can also be divided into two groups; the non-performing 

slaughterhouses which are hardly gaining any profit out of their (too limited) operations; 

refurbishment of existing poor slaughterhouse facilities would be too expensive and therefore 

the trend will go towards Greenfield investments, especially when supported by IPARD 

measures. 

The other sub-group are the meat processing plants which do economically fine, especially 

when thinking on the 8 big ones which control around 80 % of the market. The past and 

future trend goes towards improving the technology and fulfilling standards. When 

interviewed the management of these processing plants mentioned the following envisaged 

investments: 

• Capacity expansion; 

• Enlargement of working places; 

• Refrigerating and chilling rooms; 

• Air conditioning systems in working place; 

• Certification according to International Quality Standards to get in line with norms 

required by EU such as HACCP system; 

• Sewage water plant, treatment of water systems; 

• Complete new company as a Greenfield investment. 

So far both processing groups have not invested in manure storage or environment 

protection. 

As Albania has no rendering plant it seems logical that investors will show up as soon as the 

veterinary inspections are functioning and IPARD funds available. 

It might be assumed that especially the meat processing plants do some not registered 

businesses which would make it more difficult to speak officially about investments. 

The reaction on the announced IPARD programme was very positive from the already well 

performing companies and rather reluctant from the other ones. 

Future developments 

Also in Albania the future development will see the further commercialisation of livestock 

farming and meat processing. 

. 

The cattle farming will improve because it fits to the Albanian landscape with pastures; the 

future looks good if import prices for deep frozen meat will go up or import will cease at all 

due to uncertain origin of products and if slaughterhouses will improve and offer reliable 

services for the processing industry. 

The small ruminants might also improve as well also because the Albanian landscape with 

pastures fits even better for sheep and goats. Main target will remain the fresh meat market 

and to keep almost self sufficiency should be feasible; additionally export markets may open 

as soon as the NFA will perform their duties. 

The Albanian market is not ideal for pork meat as 70 % of the population are Muslims. 

However pig production might develop moderately with a slow increase in the number of pigs 

being produced for market, especially if the fodder costs will get cheaper. The production will 

include the whole production cycle including mother sows, piglets production and fattening. 



Chicken farming will continue as long as the local demand will be satisfied; therefore 

substantial investment will be needed and certain investors, eventually from surrounding 

businesses like feed mills and slaughterhouses will enter the market. 

All farmers facing better market perspectives will invest to increase the profitability of their 

production. 

As the EU standards will request substantial investments especially for slaughterhouses and 

meat processing companies, almost all of the few operating slaughterhouses and a great 

part of small-scale meat processing companies will go out of business. 

As mentioned above there is a trend to establish a complete integrated chain of operations, 

from livestock farms to feed mill and retail outlets 

A few slaughterhouses might be refurbished like the one in Saranda. However, as Albania 

will need slaughterhouses according to EU food-safety standards, new slaughterhouses will 

be established on the green fields as this is more economically than rehabilitating the old 

ones. 

Due to chronically lack of finances MAFCP will - assisted by IPARD - also consider to 

encourage private investors to build and manage the new slaughterhouses; especially as the 

old system failed in which the government / MAFCP built the slaughterhouses and then 

handed them over to municipalities which rented them out to private entrepreneurs. 

Finally the big players of the meat processing sector will continue to invest also because they 

will have to partly switch from deep frozen meat as raw material to fresh meat which will be 

partially locally produced. 

VIII. Identification of potentials and needs of the sector 

This chapter provides a SWOT analysis. The section of the producers is divided into cattle, 

sheep and goats, pigs and poultry whereas the section processors will include the 

slaughterhouses and the meat processors. 

The SWOT analysis is in a certain way a black and white picture of the sector and will deal 

with analyse the internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and the external factors 

(opportunities and threats). 

CATTLE S – Strengths W – Weaknesses 

Meat 

Animals 

Internal factors Internal factors 

Breeds, flock 

Breeds are more suitable for milk 

size … 

than for meat production 

Very few farmers focus on meat 

production 

Few farms with more than 50 heads 99 % of all cattle farms have less 

than 5 heads 

Stables Some modern stables Stables for 1-2 cows are primitive, 

dark, unclean, no air circulation etc; 

do not respect animal welfare 

standards 


Manure 

handling 

Feeding Bigger farms produce own fodder 

and purchase feed concentrates 

from modern local feed mills 

Technology, 

mechanisation 

… 

Slaughtering 

(location, live 

weight …) 

Bigger farms have tractors and 

agr.equipment 


No manure removal systems in 

place; manure is used as fertilizer 

on the fields and slurry just runs into 

the nearby river; does not respect 

environmental standards 

On small farms cattle graze in the 

neighbourhood of the farm (and 

along the streets), little use of self 

grown maize and wheat; very little 

feed concentrates 

Also bigger farms have to purchase 

partly fodder from the market as 

farms are often too small to produce 

enough forage 

Small farms are still doing 

everything by hand - feeding, 

removing the manure, milking etc. 

a) on the farm by the farmer, b) by 

the butcher on the farm or in small 

butcher shops, c) in 

slaughterhouses - transport of 

animals does not fit standards 

Live weight of slaughtered calves is 

often too low and therefore low 

profitability; reasons are demand for 

very young animals (of all kinds) 

and the unavailability of cheap 

fodder 

Meat classification and quality 

payments do not exist and farm 

output differs extremely in weight, 

age and breed 

Farmer 

Education Educational background is limited 

as almost no vocational schools 

which would be needed to train 

small holders. 



CATTLE O – Opportunities T – Threats 

Meat External factors External factors 

Land Pastures in Albania good for grazing; 

(climate, "alping" the cattle during summer not 

rainfall, 

mountains) 

in place yet 

Market 

Forage crops on 200,000 ha plus 

423,000 ha pastures 

Good climate, sufficient rainfall 

Extension of forage area limited 

Local Per capita consumption is increasing 

consumption but compared to EU level quite low; 

and beef for processing is mainly 

production imported and could be replaced by 

local production 

Price Price per kg is high Production costs are high 

Trade 

(import, 

export) 

Almost no export yet and imported 

beef could be produced locally 

No exports feasible due to non 

enforcement of food safety laws 

Legal base Laws and regulations not enforced 

Services NFA under preparation that will 

better coordinate the inspections 

Extension service underdeveloped; 

financial services for farmers almost 

not available 

Subsidies IPARD offers co-financing No budgetary support for meat 

production 

Public 

Public rural infrastructure 

infrastructure 

underdeveloped 

No market information system in 

place 

Farmer's 

Farmers not well organised, no 

organisation 

Producer Groups on the ground 



SHEEP & S – Strengths W – Weaknesses 

GOATS 

Animals 


Breeds, flock 

Room for genetic improvements 

size … Average flock size 44 / 45 heads; 

small flock sizes are still very 

numerous as many sheep are 

raised for self-consumption and just 

3,177 farmers have between 100 

and 200 heads; only 797 have more 

than 200 heads; goat figures are 

914 and 293 = less than 10 % of all 

the farms with SR and these 5,000 

farms can be considered 

commercial small ruminant farms; 

total population 2.62 million SR 

Stables No stables except shelters when 

pastoralising, in winter poor dark 

stable, low ceiling etc not 

corresponding to animal welfare 

standards 

Manure 

No manure removal systems in 

handling 

place; manure is used as fertilizer 




Feeding 4 systems: 1) Extensive system with Limited fodder production, therefore 

transhumance from 6 to 8 months no reserves. Generally low input of 

(all regions), 2) Semi-intensive 

system with transhumance from 5 to 

6 months (Gjirokastra), 3) Grazing 

system on permanent pastures 

close to the holding, 4) Grazing on 

natural pasture in walking distance, 

with return of sheep or goats in the 

evening to the holding 

feed concentrates 

Technology, Bigger farms have tractors and Small farms are still doing 

mechanisation agr.equipment for hay making etc everything by hand - feeding, 

… 

removing the manure, milking etc. 

Slaughtering 

Slaughtering on farms by farmers, 

(location, live 

by the butchers in the slaughter 

weight …) 

Farmer 

points and a few in 

slaughterhouses. Situation is worse 

than with cattle; live weight too low 






SHEEP & O – Opportunities T – Threats 

GOATS External factors External factors 

Land Pastures in Albania good for grazing 

Market 

Local 

consumption 

and 

production 

Forage crops on 200,000 ha plus 

423,000 ha pastures 

Good climate, sufficient rainfall 

2 kg / capita and year = 6,000 tons 

Price Prices are Lek 300 – 350 per kg, in 

Euro 2.20 – 2.50. Seasonal price 

Trade 

(import, 

export) 

Legal base 

fluctuations, best in December 

Import of 599 tons mutton - if the 

figure is correct than self-sufficiency 

just 90 % 

Services NFA under preparation that will 

better coordinate the inspections 


Extension of forage area limited 

Often not good timing in producing 

lambs: Price the same as in Austria 

(reduced export expectations) 

No exports feasible due to non 


Extension service underdeveloped; 

financial services for farmers almost 

not available 


production 

Public 



underdeveloped 

No market information system in 

place 

Farmer's 

Farmers not well organised, 

organisation 

Producer Groups just starting 


PIGS S – Strengths W – Weaknesses 


Animals 

Breeds, flock 

size … 


Large white, landrace are good Cross-breeds and other breeds less 

profitable 

17 farms with more than 50 pigs; 40,000 farms with 1 - 5 pigs mostly 

DZIRA - 30 sows and 6 - 800 

fattening pigs per year 

for auto-consumption 

Stables Good stables at commercial farms Poor, dark premises at subsistence 

farms 

Manure First farms under construction with No manure removal systems in 

handling advanced technology, also in place; manure is used as fertilizer 

manure management 




Feeding High input of concentrates, On small farms low input (low 

sometimes farms have on feed concentrates), home grown fodder 

mixing; expensive production - from limited fields; feed 

sometimes maize grown 

concentrates expensive as imported 

Technology, Bigger farms have tractors and On the farm small farmers do 

mechanisation agr.equipment 

everything by hand - feeding, 

… 

removing the manure, etc... On the 

fields machinery is missing, 

sometimes they buy (expensive) 

services from private tractor owners 

Slaughtering On farm slaughtering in basic For auto-consumption slaughtering 

(location, live slaughter rooms; on bigger farms takes place on farm without 

weight …) 

Farmer 

veterinary inspection takes place veterinary control (also relevant for 

local sales); much slaughtering in so 

called slaughtering points - often 

along major roads 

Slaughter-weights 70 - 120 kg alive; 

no uniform products - at least not 

from small holders; lack of 

knowledge about low-fat meat 

production which is best preferred - 

20-30 % of carcass weight loss 

because of fat, affects heavily profit 

reduction 





Focus / Highly focused if commercially done Subsistence farmers have 

specialisation 

additionally few chickens for autoconsumption 



PIGS O – Opportunities T – Threats 

External factors External factors 

Land Climate fits for pig farms Farms too small for fodder 

(climate, 

rainfall, 

mountains) 

Market 

production 

Local 56,000 pigs are imported plus 

consumption 11,529 tons meat (corresponding to 

and 230,580 pigs), mostly deep frozen 

production from Brazil; local production is 

161,000 pigs; = 7,45 kg / head and 

35 % self-sufficiency; consumer 

trend towards fresh meat and 

growing meat consumption offers 

new opportunities 

Price Average price live weight Lek /kg 2 - Imported deep frozen pork is very 

300, average live weight when 

sold/slaughtered 70-110 kg 

cheap (around USD 2 / kg) 

Trade 

Imports almost finished pigs with 80 

(import, 

kg; no exports feasible due to non 

export) 


Products 

Legal base 

Besides fresh meat also processed 

products, if imports can be 

substituted 

Services Bigger farmers have their own Extension service underdeveloped, 

experts and are internationally farmers need advice in fodder 

connected 

production and nutrition; financial 

services for farmers almost not 

available 

Subsidies NAF in preparation Veterinary inspections weak and not 

coordinated between MAFCP and 

municipalities 

Public 


IPARD offers co-financing No budgetary support for pig farmers 

Farmer's 


organisation 


Cooperation No strategy for vertical integration 

Low level of cooperation between 

pig breeders 


POULTRY S – Strengths W – Weaknesses 


Animals 

Breeds, flock 

size … 

Good breeds as 50 % of broilers in 

commercial farms 

36 farms with more than 1,000 

heads; out of them 14 farms with 

more than 10,000 heads; DZIRA 

produces 2,000,000 broilers per year 

(= 8 cycles = 250,000 broilers / cycle 


Many farms do not produce more 

than 100 broilers a year - but they 

keep other animals too 

Stables Good stables at commercial farms No specific premises at subsistence 

farms 

Manure 

Commercial farms produce much 

handling 

manure but just have limited land 

available 

Feeding Commercial concentrates as 

provided by Agrotec, Dzira, Aiba; 

bigger farms mix the fodder 

components themselves 

Extensively with left over in the farm 

Limited own fodder production, 

therefore high feed costs in general 

No quality schemes as finished 

chickens have live weight between 1 

and 2 kg, in some cases up to 3 and 

4 kg 

Marketing Professionally done by commercial 

producers 

Some good slaughterhouses for 

chicken such as Chicken Farm, 

AGRIZOO, DRIZA 

Farmer 

Education Well trained big producers, clear 

focus on broiler production 


No marketing activities, just sold on 

the farm or on weekly markets 

(Slaughtering on the small farms 

without any veterinary control) 

Educational background is limited as 

almost no vocational schools which 

would be needed to train small 

holders.


POULTRY O – Opportunities T – Threats 

External factors External factors 

Land 

(climate, 

rainfall, 

mountains) 

Market 

Not much space needed 

Fits for poultry farming 

Local Consumption approaching 10 kg / 

consumption capita, self-sufficiency now 50 % - 

and production and consumption 

production expected to growth - EU 

consumption 24 kg / capita 

Market will move towards fresh meat 

and away from imported deep frozen 

broilers 

Price Poultry meat farm sales price per kg 

is between Lek 300 and 1,000! 

Trade 50 % of broilers imported, mostly as No export feasible due to non 

(import, deep frozen meat 

enforcement of food safety laws - 

export) 

except Kosovo 

Products 

Legal base 

Development into other poultry 

productions – turkey breeding and 

processing, free range chicken, 

organic chicken 

Services NFA under preparation that will Extension service underdeveloped; 

better coordinate the inspections financial services for (small) farmers 

almost not available but needed as 

broiler production is capital intensive; 

big producers have often already 

other business and therefore 

collaterals 


production 

Public 



underdeveloped, also poor power 

supply; farms need generator 

Farmer's 


organisation 


Cooperation Low level of cooperation between 

poultry breeders; contract farming 

not in place yet 

No strategy for horizontal and 

vertical integration (from genetics to 

retail markets) 



SLAUGHTER- S – Strengths W – Weaknesses 

HOUSES Internal factors Internal factors 

Management Cheap labour force available Municipalities are in most cases the 

and work force 

owner and therefore poor 

management; exception: 

municipalities rent the facility out to 

the private sector 

Labour force incl. management is 

not trained in traceability, HACCP 

… 

Finances Individual slaughterhouses face 

expenditures but no revenues 

Focus / 3 slaughterhouses for chicken are Pigs are usually slaughtered at 

specialisation working fine; Chicken farms 

(Frigofood), AGRIZOO in Lushnja 

region and DRIZA in Frier 

slaughtering points 

Facilities Outdated facilities, often not even 

complying the Albanian law 

Technology Outdated or not applied technology; 

running costs for cold rooms too 

expensive 

Quality control Quality is not an issue as payment 

does not depend on quality - just on 

quantity 

Standards Albanian standards according to 

Food Law and orders of MAFCP 

often not applied, EU standards on 

hygiene, public authority, traceability 

and HACCP also not applied 

Raw material Animals are raised all over the No or limited raw material supply 

supply country and so are the 

slaughterhouses located 

Waste (liquid, 

No waste disposal system in place; 

solid) 

leftovers bought into illegal landfills 

and runs into next river 


SLAUGHTER- 

O – Opportunities T – Threats 


HOUSES External factors External factors 

Market No enforcement of veterinary law; 

inspections do not take place and 

slaughtering can be done 

anywhere 

Volume Increased local production and 

consumption will require also meat 

processing based on local 

production; furthermore 

slaughtering of imported live 

animals possible 

Sales price Slaughtering fees acceptable by 

slaughterhouses if volume 

increases strongly; furthermore 

additional revenues due to by- 

Slaughtering fees "higher" than if 

done illegally in the backyard; 600 

Lek for grown up cattle, 500 Lek for 

calves, 400 Lek for sheep and 

goat, 500 Lek for pigs 

Sales channels 

products like intestines 

Market outlets are looking for 

certified meat 

Trade (import, Exporters to EU will technically Imported meat does not require 

export) 

Policy 

have to use certified fresh meat for 

processing specialities 

local slaughtering plants 

Subsidies IPARD offers financial support of 

up to 50 % of investment costs 

No MAFCP support 

Public 

Existing public slaughterhouses No vocational "butcher" training 


(vocational 

training, rural 

roads, 

slaughterhouses 

…) 

could eventually be upgraded available 

Food safety Food safety in place would improve No local interest, neither from 

tourism 

authorities nor from customers 

No rendering or incineration plant 

in the country 

Veterinary Veterinary inspectors available Control institutions in MAFCP and 

inspection 

National Food Authority not well 

(transport 

papers) 

coordinated yet 

Veterinary law not enforced; 

transport papers and slaughtering 

register during controls never 

required 

MAFCP strategy Slaughterhouses will face a revival To enable just one slaughterhouse 

if slaughtering point will be finally in the middle of each province; to 

closed by local authorities (NFA) believe that this slaughterhouse 

must be governmental owned 



MEAT 

S – Strengths W – Weaknesses 

PROCESSORS Internal factors Internal factors 

Management Cheap labour force available and More qualified manager are needed 

and work force existing management very qualified but engineers from university not 

suitable 

Finances Bigger companies financially Lek depreciation causes worries as 

strong; further investments all the input is imported and mostly 

foreseen 

paid in Euro 

Focus / Priorities are pork, poultry and beef Until now imported raw material is 

specialisation 

too cheap and local production 

cannot compete 

Facilities Modern premises at main 

Not one company has adequate 

companies 

waste disposal system 

Technology Sophisticated technology in Limited technology in processing 

processing frozen meat 

fresh meat 

Quality control Documentation, traceability, Laboratories missing and also 

HACCP applied at least at the smaller companies do not apply 

biggest companies 

HACCP rules, etc. 

Standards Albanian standards according to 

Food Law and orders of MAFCP 

often applied, EU standards on 

hygiene, public authority, 

traceability and HACCP also 

applied with the big companies; 

almost ready for EU export licences 

Raw material Cheap raw material available No linkage to domestic fresh meat 

supply through import (Brazil, Canada, 

India, Italy …) 

production 

Waste (liquid, 

No waste disposal system in place; 

solid) 

leftovers brought into illegal landfills 

and runs into next river 


MEAT 

O – Opportunities T – Threats 


PROCESSORS External factors External factors 

Market No enforcement of veterinary law; 

inspections do not take place and 

slaughtering can be done anywhere 

Volume Local meat consumption will grow 

On the long run there is export 

potential 

Diversification of products and 

substitution of high value imports 

such as prosciutto (hotels, 

restaurants) 

Sales price Rather low for the time being 

Sales channels Direct sales to supermarkets 

(Euromax, Conad, Big Market) and 

smaller retailers, furthermore 

company-owned outlets (EHW, 

Trade (import, 

export) 

KMY) 

Exports to EU as soon as National 

Food Authority will be approved as 

effective authority 

Policy 

Subsidies IPARD offers financial support of 

Public 


(vocational 

training, rural 

roads, 

slaughterhouses 

…) 

up to 50 % of investment costs 

Supermarkets are just starting and 

will become more powerful 

Kosovo does not have pork 

imports; all other markets within 

Europe closed 

No MAFCP support 

No rendering or incineration plant in 

the country 

Food safety All smaller processors need 

improvements in food safety 

Veterinary Veterinary inspectors available Veterinary inspectors are not up to 

inspection 

date and veterinary inspection 

(transport 

needs improvement, especially in 

papers) 

documentation and traceability 

Veterinary law not enforced; 

transport papers and slaughtering 

register during controls never 

required 

MAFCP Gov.policy set priorities in the Institutional communication with the 

strategy promotion of high level of food private sector poor; lack of 

safety of agricultural or agro- involvement of businesses in policy 

processing products; Introduction of making; up-front consultations 

obligatory requirements for the 

implementation of the self-control 

system HACCP and the adoption of 

ISO standards; Improvement of the 

control of hygiene and sanitation 

conditions of agribusinesses 

missing 

No convincing strategy about future 

use of fresh and domestic meat 



The above SWOT analysis shows that there are several weaknesses and it will require 

special efforts to make the sector competitive before participation in the EU market. 

Summarising it could be said that the Albanian meat sector will need: 

• More organised farmers; could be in joint companies or Producer Groups; PGs would 

be important preconditions for improving the economic efficiency of the farming 

community; experiences in other countries indicate that weakness regarding the 

producers' fragmentation and badly organised sales activities could be overcome 

considerably by forming producer and marketing associations; 

• More vocational training, starting in school (age 10 – 15) and including also specific 

courses for farmers; furthermore better management / business administration should 

be offered at university level as output of universities do not fulfil the meat industry’s 

requirements; 

• More commercially oriented livestock keeping with an orientation towards ruminants to 

avoid high fodder costs because fodder is presently imported; 

• New slaughterhouses as Greenfield investments; 

• Meat processing companies with better technology so that they will be able to process 

local fresh meat on the long run. 

A successful implementation of IPARD would require the following (not exhaustive list): 

• Farmers must get informed by MAFCP about the agricultural policy, projects and 

upcoming programmes, especially about subsidies; 

• Farmers will need support in preparing project proposals; courses should be arranged 

by MAFCP for their extension people as well as for interested private persons (farmers 

and/or private consultants); 

• Banks must get informed by MAFCP that farmers will apply for IPARD funds and 

therefore part of the on-farm investments can be considered as co-financed (=reducing 

risks for banks). 

The meat sector is yet not well prepared for participation in the EU market; but the sector 

could build-up strength to resist the resulting competition pressure by making better use of 

the natural resources (especially the availability of pastures for ruminants) and the cheap and 

motivated labour force at the processing industry. IPARD funds will be highly welcomed to 

achieve the goal of improved competitiveness. 

IX. IDENTIFICATION OF TRAINING NEEDS IN THE SECTOR 

Based on the previous analyses the meat sector in Albania is facing a number of challenges 

like awakening consumer food safety concerns, difficulties in attracting high calibre workers 

and managers, stricter regulations for the industry while adapting to EU requirements and 

increasing competition within a more liberalized market. Tailor-made training courses could 

overcome these deficits. As each stakeholder in the meat sector has to face different 

requirements the training needs might be grouped as follows: 

• Training needs for farmers 

• Training needs for slaughterhouse’s staff 

• Training needs for meat processor’s staff 

• Training needs for the public administration 


Training needs for farmers 


First farmers must get identified who have the potential to produce livestock in a 

commercially viable way by the end of 2012. Based on today’s knowledge the following 

courses should be offered to farmers by the public extension service and private experts in 

the following fields: 

• Livestock management (animal welfare – also during transport, breeding, nutrition, 

GAP, veterinary issues, animal identification, hygiene concerning production and onfarm-slaughtering, 

basic food processing); 

• Manure storage and management; 

• Occupational health and safety; 

• Making use of market information systems; 

• Intensified cooperation among the farmers, for example by setting up producer groups. 

Training needs for slaughterhouse’s staff 

Courses should be offered to employees of slaughterhouses by the public extension service 

and private experts including ones from ADAMA (Albanian Dairy and Meat Association) in 

the following fields: 

• Management (writing business plans, financing, accounting, human resources 

development ...); 

• In-company training for workers, industrial abattoir workers and deboners / trimmers 

regarding new technology, food safety ...; 

• National and EU standards from animal welfare, occupational health and safety, food 

safety systems to environmental issues (like rendering plants). 

Training needs for meat processor’s staff 

Courses should be offered to employees of meat processing companies by the public 

extension service, ADAMA and private experts in the following fields: 

• Management (writing business plans, financing, accounting, human resources 

development, language skills, opening export markets ...); 

• In-company training for workers (new technology, food safety ...); 

• National and EU standards from animal welfare, occupational health and safety, food 

safety systems to environmental issues (like rendering plants). 

Training needs for the public administration 

The civil servants should be brought in the position to understand how commercial 

companies are functioning; just by understanding the farmers and processors the staff of 

NFA, MAFCP and other subordinated institutions will be in the position to advice and support 

them – also in respect to their upcoming IPARD applications: 

• Workshops on EU guidelines from farm to fork including directives for meat plants and 

their application in the meat industry; 

• IPARD applications (design and evaluation of investment projects, application forms ...); 

• Training in the practices of general food safety and HACCP application plus traceability 

in the food chain; 

• Laboratory requirements and techniques in the meat industry; 

• General business training to include such topics as overall cost control and analysis, 

cost price calculations, selling price setting and negotiation techniques, the importance 

of the market chain etc.; 

• English language courses; 


• Computer training. 

X. Outcome 

Overview of the meat sector 


Since the collapse of the old system Albania has seen many changes and improvements. 

The agricultural sector was the backbone of all economic development and even as his 

importance is slowly decreasing, it is one of the most important sectors in the completely 

Albanian economy. 

Agriculture contributes nowadays around 16.5 % to the GDP (2008); the major sub-group 

within agriculture is the livestock production with about 55 % of the total production of the 

sector, followed by field crops with 30 % and fruit production with 15 %. Within the livestock 

sector milk production is as important as meat production. 

In the period 2000 – 2009 cattle, sheep and goats have been declining whereas pigs and 

chicken have been growing. 


Livestock 2000 2009 

Cattle 728 494 

Cows 448 353 

Sheep & goats 3045 2540 

Sheep 1939 1768 

Milked sheep 1448 1309 

Goats 1104 772 

Milked goats 800 574 

Pigs 103 160 

Sow 10 13 

Poultry 5291 8313 

Chicken 4087 5138 


Having the natural resources of Albania with more than 400,000 ha of permanent grassland 

in mind this situation is paradox as the animals which need pastures like cows, sheep and 

goats are getting fewer whereas the pigs and chicken, which depend heavily on expensive 

imported feed, are growing by numbers. 

This paradox might be explicable as chicken – despite being a capital-intensive business – 

enable a fast return on investments; this kind of investment is mostly coming from nonfarming 

investors. 

This situation regarding pigs is actually determined by big importers who do not import 

piglets with 25 kg like in the previous years but 80 – 90 kg pigs which are almost ready for 

slaughtering. Reasons therefore are that piglets are not available, at least not in sufficient 

quantities and qualities, and therefore the import of live animals is required. As it is cheaper 

to import a pig with 80 kg of live weight than a piglet with 25 kg plus substantial amounts of 

corn, Albania faces the situation of having imports of 80 kg pigs – almost ready for 



slaughtering. In other words a big part of the increased local pig production is based on 

increased imports. 

Mainly subsistence farmer keeps sheep and goats and just around 5,000 holdings can be 

considered as commercial small ruminant farms. As people are moving to urban areas fewer 

people are interested to work with small ruminants, especially in transhumance. The price 

level is still high for sheep and goats and will not allow further substantial increase. 

Similar issues could explain the situation with cattle; there are few commercial dairy farms in 

Albania and even less cattle fattening farms; so most animals are kept by small holders for 

auto-consumption. Regarding the two main production opportunities – milk and meat – 

farmers often chose the milk production as it enables a small but continuously income 

whereas meat production requires one year minimum to get a well-fattened cattle and often 

farmers do not have the funds to bridge such a long period without income. 

In addition, the meat processing sector shows a very inconsistent picture. Under the former 

government the agricultural policy did not focused on meat production and therefore there 

have been very limited slaughterhouse capacities and meat processing companies. After the 

collapse most companies closed down – before and after the privatisation - and as a result 

there are not many slaughterhouses left in operation. Due to missing enforcement of 

appropriate veterinary inspections slaughtering of animals takes place all over the country 

except in slaughterhouses. The few remaining operating slaughterhouses do not generate 

profit as they are working far below their capacities and therefore no investment takes place. 

Experts are convinced that almost all the existing slaughterhouses – regardless if in 

operation or already closed – will not be upgraded to EU standards simply as a Greenfield 

investment would be cheaper. However these investments are not taking place yet as the 

law is not enforced and if farmers and butchers have the choice between official inspected 

slaughterhouse and an illegal slaughter point in the backyard of the farm or the butcher shop 

then they prefer the cheaper solution – in the backyards. In other words under the present 

circumstances slaughterhouses cannot be a profitable business. 

The situation is different with meat processors; all the big 8 – 10 companies depend almost 

exclusively on imported deep frozen meat from Brazil, Canada, USA and the European 

Union. This meat is very cheap and processing it enables a sound return on investments. 

The bigger companies are often close to EU standards and just need minor improvements. 

Exports towards the EU member countries but also other neighbouring countries do not take 

place because of the missing veterinary inspections in accordance with the EU regulations. 

Nevertheless these processing companies are willing and able to invest further into 

upgrading the standards so that they might export as soon as the legal environment will 

enable that. 

Potentials and obstacles 

From the point of self sufficiency there is room for increased production in all livestock farms 

except sheep and goats as Albania is almost self-sufficient in this category. As described 

above there is a big potential for new slaughterhouses – which should be build right from the 

beginning according to EU standards – as all the existing ions are outdated in respect of 

technology but more important hygiene, animal welfare and food safety. The most advanced 

stakeholders in this supply chain are the meat processing companies as they need just little 

further investments to fulfil EU requirements. 

There are several reasons why the listed potentials are not used (yet). The farming sector is 

too much struggling with subsistence farming and there are not many commercial farmers. 

Many older subsistence farms will come to an end as soon as the old owners will die and the 

young ones will move to urban areas to find better paid jobs. As soon as a sound cadastre 



system will be in place transfer of agricultural land either by purchase or rent will increase. 

This will give motivated small holders the chance to increase their production and to make 

the step from subsistence to market oriented farming. Bigger farms will encourage a more 

commercial acting. 

Beside the size of agricultural holdings also their premises such as stables will need some 

upgrading and here IPARD funds will have a big impact as soon as they will be available. 

Furthermore it will be important to have well trained farmers who have a clear focus and 

good commercial understanding. The public extension service and private experts will face 

new challenges to overcome the actual deficits. 

As IPARD funds will require from farmers also a fulfilling of at national and soon of EU 

standards it will be crucial that farmers are aware of these standards related to occupational 

health and safety, environmental issues, food and feed safety, animal health, animal welfare 

and others. 

Actually fodder costs are too high. Also the fodder production is not as good as it could be 

and on the almost 200,000 ha there is a lot of room for improvements. Fodder must be 

produced in a larger scale to decrease the production costs. Then also the locally produced 

fodder like alfa-alfa, maize silage and others will become competitive towards the imported 

one. 

Investments in agricultural holdings as enabled by the upcoming IPARD programme will 

push the sector. The investments which will not be eligible under IPARD must find cofinancing 

in national support programmes. 

The same is valid for the meat processing sector and the investments will have to focus on 

newly established slaughterhouses and hopefully a rendering plant. The meat processing 

companies will also benefit from the IPARD programme but most likely the big ones will find 

their way also without support programmes like in the past. It should be mentioned that the 

enforcement of better waste disposal will find broader acceptance if co-financed by IPARD. 

Final recommendations in order to target the specific investments 

The farming community is urgently waiting for the IPARD support, at least the kind of farmers 

who are trained and motivated to make their living out of commercial farming. These farmers 

will find their way to pre-finance their investments under IPARD and will therefore benefit 

from the new support scheme. The majority will not be willing or able to do more than 

subsistence farming and will on the long run stop their farming activities. 

Concerning the meat processing sector the slaughterhouses must be newly build and 

managed by the private sector under strong monitoring by the NFA. Without prospering 

slaughterhouses the Albanian farmers will not find access to the meat processing sector. To 

make slaughterhouses profitable the NFA must stop all illegal animal movements and 

slaughtering as soon as possible. Then these slaughterhouses will be a bottleneck and will 

enable an improved veterinary control scheme. At the same time they will provide sufficient 

quantities in different certified qualities to the processing industries. 

The meat processors, especially the bigger ones, are doing fine and will not face many 

difficulties fulfilling EU standards. They also do not worry about more expensive imported 

meat as long as all competitors have to use the same raw material. 

It will be the big challenge for MAFCP to improve the livestock sector and to increase the 

food safety by channelling all animals to slaughterhouses. Having better local fresh meat – 

for fresh meat consumption but also for processing – the industry will make use of it. 


Proposed Measures under IPARD Axis 1 

Investment in Agricultural Holdings 



• Construction/extension/modernisation of animal shelters; 

• Construction and/or renovation of storage buildings and machine sheds; 

• Silage handling equipment and machinery, on-farm animal feed preparation, handling, 

distribution systems and storage; 

• Automatic feeding & drinking equipment, watering, heating and ventilation, automating 

environmental control systems including energy-saving equipments authorised and 

defined under Directive 2007/43/EC; 

• Investments for manure handling, storage and treatment facilities; 

• Animal handling equipment and facilities (e.g. weighing, disinfection); 

• Transportation equipment compatible with Community animal welfare standards; 

• Watering systems; 

• Fences and gates; 

• Special equipment for weighing, health control; 

• Biogas facilities; 

• Purchase of specialized technological equipment including IT and software (herd 

management, animal registry, general farm management). 

Size of projects 

The maximum and minimum limits of total value of eligible investments per project are: 

• Minimum € 5,000 

• Maximum € 500,000 

Ranking 

Sheep – cattle – goats – pigs – poultry 

Investment in Processing and Marketing of the Agricultural Products 


• Construction or renovation of slaughterhouses; 

• Renovation of meat processing enterprises; 

• Equipment for improvement of hygiene and product quality, in full compliance with 

Community standards; 

• Investments for establishment of food safety systems (HACCP, GMP and GHP) 

including laboratories and equipment to improve the control of the product quality and 

hygiene; 

• Certification costs; 

• Improvement of environmental protection; equipment and facilities for reprocessing of 

intermediate products and processable wastes; treatment and elimination of wastes: 

waste water works in slaughterhouses and fat catcher facilities for meat processing 

establishments; 

• Investment for slaughtering animals in conditions compatible with animal welfare; 

• Purchase of equipment for packaging; 

• Cold storage equipment, purchasing refrigerated transport means of carcass and meat 

products; 



• IT hardware and software for product and process management, Software & tracking 

system to implement traceability of carcass and meat inside the processing 

establishment; 

• … 

Size of projects 

The maximum and minimum limits of total value of eligible investments per project are: 

• Minimum € 10,000 

• Maximum € 500,000 

Ranking 

Slaughterhouses - (rendering plants) – meat processors 


LITERATURE AND WEBSITES CONSULTED 


CEUENS / Centre for EU Enlargment Studies; Gjergji Vurmo, Institute for Democracy and 

Mediation, edited by Balázs Szent-Iványi; Relations of Albania with the EU; 2008 

Commission of the European Communities; staff working document “Albania 2009 Progress 

Report”; 2009 

SKRELI, E.: Project for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Mountain Regions 

(SARD – M); Assessment of strengths and weaknesses of mountain policies in South East 

Europe: National report of Albania; 2007 

European Commission – Agriculture and Rural development; Albania - Agriculture and 

Enlargement; 2009 

European Union – Albania subcommittee on agriculture and fisheries, Tirana, 2 nd March 

2010 

FAO / VERCUNI, A. et ZHLLIMA, E.: The food supply and distribution system of Tirana, 

Albania; 2008 

General Directory of Customs, Albania EC Health and Consumers Directorate-General, 

Directorate F - Food and Veterinary Office, DG (SANCO) /8127/2009 - CP Pre – Draft, 

Country Profile of Albania on Food and Feed Safety, Animal Health, Animal Welfare and 

Plant Health; 2009 

GIL, J.M. Gil, GRACIA, A. and ANGULA, A.M. Angula; Trends in the consumption of animal 

food products in Mediterranean countries; Unidad de Economía Agraria, SIA-DGA, Zaragoza, 

Spain; Departamento de Análisis Económico, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain 

Kaerntner Bauer, Markt & Preis, No 9, 2010 (Austrian Farmer Magazin) 

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection (MAFCP); Agriculture and Food 

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(about poultry consumption in the EU 27)

MEAT Sector Analyse

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