January 19, 2007

French poultry industry sees higher prices for chicken this year

The French poultry sector looks set to remain buoyant  in 2007, with steady trade and stable prices, industry commentators said.

The poultry industry had a much better year-end in 2006 than 2005, especially during the festive season as poultry sales went on without serious problems. There were similar reports from both upstream and retail sectors, which saw good demand levels.

In the first week of January 2007, standard and quality labelled chickens were EUR 0.45 and EUR 1.00 more, respectively, than two years earlier.

However, poultry feed prices continue to rise as grain prices rise.

The poultry industry's technical institute, Itavi, confirmed that prices are rising. Average price rises of 1.2 percent, 1.7 percent and 1.3 percent are reported, respectively, for standard chicken, quality label chicken and turkey feed.