October 1, 2008

Demise of Irish poultry producer blamed on cheap imports 

Fears of the collapse of the Irish broiler sector are rising as one of Irelands's largest producer of chickens, Cappoquin Chickens, has announced its closure.

The 50-year-old Irish poultry processor went into liquidation with debts of EUR 7-8 million.

The official liquidator, Deloitte, kept Cappoquin trading while attempting to find investors. A

Cappoquin simply could not compete in the marketplace as there are simply too many cheap imports, said Ned Morrissey, chairman of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) Poultry Committee. The IFA alleged that 90 percent of the food used in the catering trade are imported poultry which would not have met local standards.

Most of the imports were from Asia and Brazil.

Mr Morrissey said that the growers have little future in the broiler business as they are too far from any of the other Irish poultry processors (all in the north of the country) to be viable.

Forty growers and 10 breeders entered an agreement with the liquidator to guarantee payment to rear birds to processing, however, as of mid-September no new birds were placed as the company's operation was wound down.

The privately owned busines processed 220,000 chickens per week.

Increased costs of feed and energy, coupled with lax laws on food labelling and cheaper imports, have been blamed.

This is the latest in a series of closures which has seen major poultry processors go under every year for the last five years in Ireland.