March 9, 2010

Czech poultry flock down 1.4%

Czech poultry numbers last year dipped 1.4% to 23.95 million after three years of slow growth.

Hen numbers went down by 3.9% to 6.1 million compared with 2008, less than a half of the level of the early 1990s, according to data from the Czech Statistical Office (CSU).

Egg production reached 1.67 billion eggs, a year-on-year drop of 3.1%. Egg sales were 3.6% lower at 1.27 billion and marketability of eggs reached 76.4%. Farmers said the imports of cheap eggs from Poland and the Baltics caused the drop.

Average egg production per laying hen was 290 eggs last year, 3.1% more from 2008. Egg consumption rose by more than a third to 350 eggs due to fast-growing imports of eggs in 2008.

More than 4.7 million free range hens, not a part of the CSU statistics, had been kept in 2008, according to the Agriculture Ministry's data.

Poultry meat production fell by around 4% to 194,252 tonnes last year, the purchasing price of slaughter chicken almost a tenth lower on the year. Poultry meat consumption has long been 25 kg per person and year. Poultry meat ranks second after pork in terms of popularity.