Overview of global chicken trading
The USDA released its semi-annual “Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade” report last week. The data revealed that global production of chicken meat is up by approximately 1.6% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. Global consumption on the other hand, only increased by 1.2% YTD. The top three largest producers of chicken meat remain unchanged from July 2023. The U.S. continues to be the largest processor of chicken by far, with 21.3 million tons of ready-to-cook (RTC) harvested YTD. The U.S. is followed by Brazil and China with 15.1 million metric tons and 15.0 million tons produced, respectively. The three largest consumers of domestic poultry on a YTD basis are the U.S., China , and the European Union at 18.3, 14.9, and 10.1 million tons consumed, respectively. This shows a shift from 2023 in which Brazil held the third spot for consumption of domestic meat. Presumably, more of Brazil’s chicken is leaving the country as Brazil has widened the gap of being the world’s largest exporter of chicken with 4.9 million tons sold YTD. The U.S. takes up residence as the next biggest exporter with 3.1 million tons exported YTD, a 7% decrease from the year before. Finally, the European Union has sold 1.7 million tons of YTD to foreign buyers. The countries that import the most chicken meat are Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom with import volumes of 1.1, 1.0, and 0.9 million metric tons, respectively.
Ground down: ground meat in the turkey industry
The frozen whole turkey market remains in a stagnant state, in which buyers and sellers seem to be at an impasse. There’s an overall lack of demand from purchasers, and processors are unable to discount prices any more as many are already taking a loss at the current price point. With that said, some producers are looking at alternative ways to minimize losses and move production. One potential avenue that some are taking advantage of is the demand for ground turkey. According to data from Circana, retail distribution of ground turkey with a lean content ranging between 90-98% is up 5.8% YTD compared to the three-year average. Additionally, this year’s YTD average retail price for those products is up 6.3% from the three-year average. Expana doesn’t list quotations for wholesale ground turkey, given that it is generally marketed as a specialty product. However, if producers feel they can obtain a positive price point for ground turkey compared to frozen whole birds, it may influence them to direct more energy towards grinding operations.
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Written by Nick Wood
