October 15, 2013

UK poultry meat demand continues to rise

With many shoppers now 'Buying British', the country is running out of space to produce enough UK-reared chickens, wherefore Ministers are being urged to speed up the planning process for new poultry farms, or face up to importing birds to keep up with demand.

Andrew Large of the British Poultry Council said that poultry is expected to account for more than half of our entire meat consumption next year, up from just over a third 20 years ago. "We eat our way through 2.2 million chickens a day, with 70% reared in the UK."

Large added that poultry houses are not being built because planning permission has been denied or a developer has given up the ghost after being forced to wait so long.

Decisions that should take 13 weeks are taking more than 18 months.

Large said, "The knock on effect is that the consumer won't be able to buy British. Those going to places like Tesco won't be able to do so. They will be forced to buy imported chicken. Buy British has consequences."

Large admitted local communities were also opposing new farms, given "preconceptions" about noise, smell and the extra amount of traffic. But he insisted many of these concerns were out-dated.

In February, Tesco promised to buy 100% British chicken as part of a raft of "radical" changes following the horsemeat scandal. Britain's biggest supermarket said it would start with fresh chicken before moving to all chicken products, fresh or frozen.

Large said the nation's appetite for chicken was helped by price, with poultry seeing the lowest rate of increase - 30.9% - across 35 different food categories over the last two decades. In the same time, lamb prices have doubled and beef has gone up by 50%.

A survey in June revealed that nearly eight in 10 shoppers would buy British food when available. The Institute of Grocery and Distribution added that shoppers aged 18 to 24 were now twice as likely to buy British food as they were in 2007.