W4: Weekly Poultry & Egg Update
Chicken
Germany: KAT Points to Loopholes in German Law for Killing Day-Old Roosters (Jan 24)
The German association for controlled alternative livestock farming KAT, which focuses on tracing and guaranteeing the origin of eggs and egg products, applies rules that go beyond national legislation on the killing of day-old hens of laying breeds. According to the association, 36M roosters have been saved from death in a year. KAT argues that there are still too many loopholes in German law when it comes to killing roosters. The German law to phase out the culling of day-old chicks came into force on 1 January 2022. Roosters may no longer be killed and must either be reared or pre-selected in the hatching egg.
Malaysia: Chicken Supply Not Affected by Bird Flu Outbreak in Us and Europe (Jan 25)
The supply of chicken for the domestic market will not be affected by the bird flu outbreak in the US and Europe, said Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu. He said that although no bird flu cases were reported in the country, the ministry is constantly monitoring the situation from time to time. “Currently, the supply of chicken in the country is stable, and we hope that this will continue in the future. So far, the bird flu outbreak has not affected the country’s supply of chicken,” he told reporters after visiting a chicken breeding, processing, and distribution company.
According to information from the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex) of the Federal Government, exports of poultry meat and its edible offal, fresh, refrigerated or frozen in these 15 working days of January were already close to reaching the total collection recorded in January 2022. The revenue obtained from chicken meat exports until the end of the third week of the month was USD 537.43M, representing 98.7% over the amount obtained in January 2022, which was USD 544.39M. In the case of the volume shipped, it totaled 270.58K MT which was 85.25% in relation to the total registered in January of last year, amounting to 317.39K MT.
Brazil: Strengthening Barriers Against Avian Flu and Prices May Rise (Jan 25)
Always on the Brazilian table, eggs and chicken may be missing from the table in 2023. With the avian flu affecting the international market, Brazil, which exports 40% of all chicken in the world, should export even more, due to barriers against the disease. According to agronomist Evaristo de Miranda, avian flu caused the United States to slaughter 53M birds. “It affects several countries in Europe. And the production and export of chickens in Europe has been falling every year and will still fall in 2023. And now it has arrived at the border of Brazil”, he points out. With strict control, Brazil is free of the disease. In this gaucho aviary, access is restricted and trucks undergo disinfection to ensure health.
Brazil: Chicken Meat Prices Are Falling Since December (Jan 27)
Chicken meat prices, traded on the wholesale market in Greater São Paulo, have been falling since December 2022, with the movement intensifying especially in the second half of that month and remaining throughout January of 2023. According to data released by Cepea, this scenario is the result of the high supply of meat in the domestic market. Even some of the wholesale market agents report difficulties in maintaining positive margins.
Hungary: The Domestic Average Price of Whole Chicken Increased More Than the EU One (Jan 25)
Hungary's poultry meat exports decreased by 17.8% in terms of quantity, while they increased by 14.5% in value in January-October 2022 compared to the previous year's I-X. The volume of poultry meat imports increased by 26.3% and the value by 64.6% at the same time. The live weight producer price of slaughter chickens rose by 53% and that of slaughter turkeys by 48.8% in the first two weeks of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. The processing sales price of chicken breast fillet increased by 57.3%, bone-in chicken breast by 39.2%, the price of chicken breast (in total) by 57.8%, and chicken thigh by 44.1% in the first two weeks of 2023 compared to the first two weeks of 2022. According to data from the European Commission, poultry meat exports from the Union (EU27) decreased by 14.4% to 1.09M MT in January-October 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. Exports of EU poultry meat to Ghana (-29.9%), Congo (-11.9%) and Ukraine (-35.8%) fell, while exports to Saudi Arabia (+23.3%) increased. The community's poultry meat imports rose by 33% to 567K MT at the same time. 48% of the import came from Brazil, 24% from Ukraine, and 21% from Thailand, a total of 525K MT of poultry meat came from the three countries. The amount of poultry meat imported from China increased by 75.6% to 28K MT in the first ten months of 2022.
Poland: Purchase Prices of Live Poultry (Jan 29)
In the second week of January 2023, purchase prices of monitored poultry species changed slightly. For broiler chickens, as in the previous week, suppliers obtained USD 1.30/kg (PLN 5.67). The price of this livestock was 2% lower than a month ago, but 28% higher than last year. Meat processing plants sold carcasses of gutted chickens at USD 1.80/kg (PLN 7.83), which is 7% cheaper than the week before, but 14% more expensive than a month ago.
Indicative prices of chicken in Bulgaria stood at USD 2.26/kg in the week that started on January 16, 2023, falling only by a slight 0.5% MoM but touching their lowest level since March 2022. The decline likely comes on the back of slower demand after the winter holidays and also on strong domestic production. However, YoY, prices are up 27%, underlying inflation for this product hasn't eased. (Continue Reading)
Iran: A Record Slump in Poultry Consumption (Jan 27)
The Iranian poultry farming industry has not been in the best shape for the past several years, but the last few months were the worst, estimated Ataullah Hassanzadeh, CEO of Mazandaran poultry farmers union. In December-January, the market evidenced a surplus of 15M heads of chicken, with a value of up to USD 0.95M (400B tomans), he estimated. Rough calculations showed that the demand slumped by 20-30%, though this figure can vary across Iran’s provinces. Mazandaran poultry farmers are estimated to provide 80% of broiler meat consumed in the country’s capital of Tehran. Plummeting consumption has forced poultry farmers to act. Hassanzadeh said that producers had to remove hatching eggs from the production cycle.
Philippines: Extension of Tariff Reduction of Mechanically Separated Chicken Meat Until 2024 (Jan 25)
Signed on January 13th, but only published in the Official Gazette last Thursday, the 19th, the OE extended the five percent tariff on chicken and turkey MSM until the end of 2024. In 2025 the tariffs will return to 30% within quota and 40% out of quota. According to the message that accompanied the initiative, it is necessary to maintain reduced tariffs on chicken and turkey MSM "to guarantee the continuous supply of essential food products at affordable prices”, diversify the country's sources of supply and help companies recover and sustain its operations. The prolonged impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors that affected the supply of that commodity are cited, as well as the high inflation caused by restrictions on domestic supply, shortages in global supply and rising commodity prices around the world.
Egypt: Imported USD 687M of Live Animals During 2022 (Jan 29)
The report of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics indicated that Egypt's total imports of live animals amounted to USD 687.47M during the period from January to October 2022. Turkeys and chickens value amounted to USD 22.75M.
Ghana: Study Analyzes Effects of European Chicken Exports to Ghana (Jan 23)
The EU regularly exports large quantities of poultry meat to West African countries. These exports have been criticized for harming importing countries in West Africa and exacerbating poverty there. The reason is that cheap imports depress the local price of chicken, making life difficult for local smallholders. Researchers at the Universities of Bonn and Göttingen have now used the example of Ghana to calculate the effects that would result if the country were to significantly increase its import tariffs for poultry meat or even stop imports completely. The result shows that prices would indeed rise domestically, but most local households would not benefit.
Mexico: Imported 2% Less Chicken (Jan 26)
Purchases of chicken, the second most imported meat product in Mexico, experienced a YoY decrease of 2%, remaining at 895.85K MT. Despite this, its price rose by 11.9%, up to USD 1.23M.
Turkey
Poland: Purchase Prices of Live Poultry (Jan 29)
Turkeys were purchased at USD 2.10/kg (PLN 9.17), USD 0.0092/kg (PLN 0.04) more expensive than in the previous week, but cheaper by 2% than a month ago. Turkeys were paid 48% more than a year ago. The price of turkey carcasses amounted to USD 3.57/kg (PLN 15.57) and was higher by 1% than at the beginning of January this year, but lower by 1.5% than a month ago.
Duck
Poland: Purchase Prices of Live Poultry (Jan 29)
The price of broiler ducks was similar to that obtained a week and a month earlier and amounted to USD 1.76/kg (PLN 7.68). Ducks were 30% more expensive than in the comparable week of 2022.
Egg
US: Begun Investigating the Sharp Increase in Egg Prices (Jan 25)
After egg prices have risen more than 100% in the past year in the United States, authorities have begun receiving requests to launch an investigation into possible price gouging. Democratic US Sen. Jack Reed sent a letter Tuesday asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether producers have mismanaged egg prices. Farm Action, a farmer-led advocacy group, filed a similar request last week, alleging that “there appears to be a collusive system among industry leaders to turn inflationary conditions and an outbreak of bird flu into an opportunity for huge profits.” The rise in egg prices has been blamed on millions of chickens being culled to contain the spread of bird flu and farmers having to offset rising costs caused by inflation. But even though about 43M of the 58M birds that have been culled in the past year to help control bird flu have been laying hens, overall flock size has only dropped 5-6% from to its normal size of about 320M copies. The national average retail price for a dozen eggs hit USD 4.25 in December, compared with USD 1.79 a year earlier, according to the most recent government data.
Egypt: Egg Prices (Jan 25)
The prices of white and red eggs at the farm increased on Jan 25, compared to their level on Jan 24. On the other hand, the prices of local eggs have stabilized, according to data from the General Union of Poultry Producers. The price of a carton of white eggs: USD 2.92 (87.75 pounds), an increase of one pound. The price of a carton of red eggs: USD 2.98 (89.75 pounds), an increase of USD 0.033 (1 pound). The price of a carton of municipal eggs: USD 3.21 (96.75 pounds). And thus, egg prices have risen again in recent days after their decline, which the division attributed at the time to a drop in demand, as this decline came after successive increases resulting from the lack of supply of eggs, and the continued rise in feed prices, according to breeders.
Japan: The Price of Eggs Reached a Maximum in 30 Years Amid Mass Destruction of Chickens (Jan 25)
In Japan, in December 2022, the average price of 1 kg of chicken eggs reached USD 2.3 (300 yen), which was the highest figure in the last 30 years. According to the Nikkei newspaper on Jan 25, this trend is observed against the background of the mass destruction of chickens on poultry farms in several regions of the country due to the rapid spread of bird flu. In December 2021, the price of 1 kg of eggs was about USD 1.6 (210 yen). According to the newspaper, the bird deaths could also lead to a shortage of eggs in the Japanese market to supply local bread and confectionery producers. At the same time, it may take about 1 year to restore the previous number of chickens in Japan, Nikkei notes. This season, about 60 outbreaks of bird flu have already been recorded in more than 20 prefectures throughout Japan.
