October 24, 2007

 

Australian chicken meat prices to surge as feed cost rises 

 

 

The price of chicken will rise by an average 20 percent-30 percent from mid-November due to higher grain prices and other input costs, industry and services concern Australian Chicken Meat Federation reported Wednesday (October 24, 2007).

 

The price of wheat, the industry's single biggest input cost, has more than doubled this year due to a drought, with grain representing the major part of chicken feed, for which there is no substitute, the federation said.

 

Feed, which also includes sorghum, other grains, protein meals, fats, vitamins and minerals, in turn makes up more than 60 percent of the cost of producing a meat chicken, and the recent increase in feed costs alone translates into cost increases in excess of 20 percent-30 percent, it said.

 

The federation also cited higher gasoline prices and a near doubling of electricity costs.

 

"With the unprecedented rise in the cost of grain, chicken producers are finally being forced to pass on these costs to the consumer," Andreas Dubbs, the federation' executive director, said in a statement.

 

The price of chicken meat will have to rise from mid-November, he said.

 

"Consumers are likely to be paying an average of 20 percent-30 percent more for chicken meat from whole chickens through to further processed products," he said.

 

The federation said average per capita consumption of chicken was 35 kilograms in 2005, just a little lower than beef, making chicken one of the major meats consumed in Australia.

 

Chicken is available in Australian retail outlets from about A$3 per kilogram for wings to A$20/kg for corn-fed, free-range breast meat.