Slow growth and high risk hamper global poultry industry

The international poultry industry has experienced increasingly slower growth and greater volatility since 2011, according to Rabobank’s

2018 Global Poultry Report.

Growth in the industry had fallen to a level of between 1% and 2% a year, while market share had declined from 11,5% to 10,9% over the period under review.

This could be ascribed to, among other factors, the avian influenza threat, increased protectionism, and supply challenges in export countries such as China and Brazil.

The report stated that further changes could be expected in the industry in the foreseeable future as a result of increasing exports from new export countries such as Russia, Ukraine and Vietnam. Poultry nevertheless remained the world’s most highly traded meat protein, constituting 41% of the world’s 31 million-ton meat trade market. Chicken was the most important poultry species, followed by turkey and duck.

The whole-chicken market was dominated by Brazil, with countries in the Middle East being the most important importers. The whitemeat chicken market was centred in the EU, with this commodity imported mainly from Brazil and Thailand. Brazil, the US and the EU were the most important players in the dark-meat trade.

Thailand and China were the main exporters of processed chicken meat, and according to the report, the market for processed chicken meat was growing gradually.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, about 80% of rural households in developing countries raised poultry, with chickens constituting more than 90% of the world’s poultry population. Sustainable poultry production was thus essential to ensure food security.

In this regard, a clear division was developing between industrialised production systems and production systems supporting livelihoods and supplying local or niche markets. However, traditional small-scale, rural, family-based poultry systems continued to play a crucial role in sustaining livelihoods in developing countries.

In its report, Rabobank advised poultry companies to rethink their operations in light of these new global trade realities. It was recommended that the spotlight should be shifted to the growth in local markets, investment in new export markets, changing social and customer concerns, and focusing on highvalue trade markets for processed poultry. – Annelie Coleman