September 10, 2010
 

Bright outlook for global poultry meat industry

 

 

The poultry meat industry is well-paced to expand its market share over the next ten years, but must work at cost effectiveness 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.

 

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 40 million tonnes, or 15%, over the next ten years, and 60% of that will be poultry - mainly chicken," said GIRA consultant Richard Brown.

 

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."