Recently in poultry farming Category

Argentina looks set to become a major force in world poultry markets, as impressive growth over the past decade is predicted to continue.

A report by Rabobank says the country’s poultry production has grown from 900,000t in 2000, to 1.5mt in 2010. Over that period it has gone from a net importer of 18,000t to a net exporter, bringing in just under US$500m last year.

The country’s low cost base and good access to feed grains and protein crops put it in a good position for future expansion, supplying both international and domestic markets, the report says.

Domestic consumption of poultry meat in Argentina is growing strongly as consumers make lifestyle and dietary changes, moving away from more expensive beef. Consumption is forecast to reach 44kg per head by 2016 - up from around 34kg last year.

Pig and poultry compound feed manufacturer ABN has bought Exeter-based Uffculme Feed Mill.

ABN managing director Simon Heath said the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval by the UK competition authorities, would improve the company’s ability to service an expanding customer base in the southwest.

“For the last several years, we have been investing in our ability to deliver quality nutrition products to the entire UK pig and poultry supply chains, and this is just another step in that direction for our business.”

Producers who want to supply the London 2012 Olympic Games and companies which win Olympic contracts need to register on CompeteFor

The games will be Red Tractor Assured and the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games is expected to announce shortly which firms have won catering contracts, says BPEX.

LOCOG uses CompeteFor as a brokerage service to match buyers with potential suppliers and to enable businesses to compete for contract opportunities linked to the games and other large public and private sector buying organisations. Registration is free.

As part of its strategy for growth, 2 Sisters Food Group is spending £30m to create a state-of-the-art food processing facility on an industrial estate in Thetford, Norfolk.

The site, which will open this spring, will initially focus on breaded chicken and will act as the “platform for growth” for the Prepared Foods Division.

“This will enable us to offer customers an exciting new range of healthy and nutritious coated food products, alongside our existing bestselling lines,” said 2 Sisters UK managing director Eddie Power.

Earlier this year I took part in a focus group with Andersons farm business consultants, as part of their research into a study they were doing for DEFRA.

That study - on the impacts of the recession on agriculture - has now been published and contains many pertinent observations.

On balance, it says, there has been little overall negative impact on agriculture from the changing conditions in the wider economy.

“In fact, the greatest effect so far, albeit indirect, has been a positive one as the recession has prompted a realignment of exchange rates that has greatly benefitted UK farming.”

The report goes on to highlight the reduction in borrowing charges, the lower cost of farm inputs and the benefits for businesses that have invested in holiday lets from the increased number of people who have holidayed in the UK...

Predicting grain prices is a mug’s game.

A month ago, this blog was predicting a “subdued trade in 2010/11”, despite new figures from the US department of agriculture pointing to lower wheat and maize plantings.

A week later, as the first hosepipe ban came in and wheat prices approached £110/t ex-farm, I then suggested cereal producers could be looking at “a sell opportunity” on the grounds that world stocks were still plentiful and price rises might not last.

Those comments look slightly ridiculous now that global wheat markets have posted the biggest monthly rise for almost four decades on the back of continuing drought in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

London futures prices have climbed 50% since the beginning of July and UK ex-farm wheat prices now stand at nearer £140/t spot...

The slump in the wholesale egg market shows no signs of abating and, if anything, is getting worse.

One producer packer has just described to me how the price of medium eggs on the open market has gone from about £1/doz in the spring to 80p, to 60p and, last week, to just 40p/doz. He fears that this week it will be down to 30p/doz.

There is a surplus of eggs and that surplus, it seems, is going round and round in circles looking for a home.

Initially the egg breakers were able to take some of the surplus off the market and exports also helped relieve the pressure, but these markets are now saturated.

While the actual surplus is relatively small compared with the total egg market, buyers have the upper hand and prices are being squeezed. Even the supermarkets are getting in on the act, with special promotions to be found in some retail outlets...

The Agricultural Wages Board has decided on a 2.8% wage increase for Grade 2 workers and a 2.4% increase for Grade 1, it has been revealed.

The full breakdown of wages from 1 October 2010 for a maximum 39 hour week is as follows:

Grade 1 - £5.95/hour

Grade 2 - £6.58

Grade 3 - £7.24

Grade 4 - £7.76

Grade 5 - £8.23

Grade 6 - £8.88

The NFU has described the AWB as "an industrial relations relic".

Barclays head of agriculture Martin Redfearn makes full use of the tried and tested mnemonic “CAMPARI” to explain what a banker is looking for when deciding who to lend money to.

Broken down into its constituent parts, CAMPARI stands for Character, Ability, Means, Purpose, Amount, Repayment and Insurance, he told a recent poultry seminar.

Tick all of those boxes and you’ve got yourself a loan!

Well, I’ve got my own drink-related mnemonic when deciding what I look for when choosing a bank - and that is VODKA.

V stands for Value. A bank should offer its customers great value for money - and that means free banking and realistic interest rates. The current premiums over base rates on borrowings are a disgrace and as for the pitiful rates of interest on savings…

One of the first things I was told when I ventured out into the world of poultry was that "as soon as the UK laying flock gets over the 32m mark, prices collapse".

The comment was actually made to me in the sidelines of the International Egg Commission conference in Paris in April by a couple of gentlemen who, judging by appearances alone, had a good deal more experience of these things than I did.

And it turns out that they were prescient words indeed. Having just put the latest issue of Poultry World to bed, my eyes were drawn to two of the graphs on the market prices pages - one rising steeply off the grid and the other trending sharply downwards.

The one in the ascendency was the "size of the UK laying flock". This is actually a projection, based on hatchery placings. But the line shows that the national flock topped the 32m mark in May and is forecast to exceed 33m by September, largely due to the ongoing expansion of the free-range sector...