Buoyant outlook for poultrymeat

The poultrymeat industry is well-paced to grow its market share over the next decade, but must work hard to reduce costs and exploit export opportunities.

Those are among the conclusions of a major new study by GIRA, a leading international meat consultancy, which were presented to the Northern Ireland meat industry this week.

Among the key points in the study is the projected growth in demand for poultry products driven by rising populations. While other meats will also continue to increase sales, poultry will gain the most market share.

“We expect to see total world meat demand grow by 40m tonnes, or 15%, over the next ten years, and 60% of that will be poultry – mainly chicken,” GIRA consultant Richard Brown told Poultry World.

This reflected the fact that poultry is the cheapest animal protein and the differential in production cost compared with red meat is set to widen. It is also one of the easiest of the farmed meats to produce.

“What this study does clearly and concisely is to highlight the opportunities and the challenges our companies face,” said Ian Murphy of Invest Northern Ireland, one of the organisations funding the research.

“What companies must do is to redouble their efforts to ensure efficiency, productivity and innovation in areas such as higher value added products for niche markets, and overall competitiveness.”

• For more on this study, watch out for the next issue of Poultry World