THE NETHERLANDS, Utrecht. Global poultry is currently performing well, with profitability in most regions in the world, despite the ongoing global pressure of avian influenza (AI), especially in Asia, according to Rabobank’s Global Poultry Quarterly for Q2 2017. The big exception remains China, where the negative impact of human AI cases has kept prices down.
The Brazilian ‘meat scandal’ is having a significant impact on global trade. Exports from Brazil have been dropping since March (April: -23%), and this has created an additional shift in global trade streams, on top of the AI-related impact. The US has been the winner, with European exporters also taking some of the Middle East trade.
Most global markets are performing well, with a combination of strong demand, restricted supply, and ongoing low feed costs. Industries in Mexico, India, Thailand, and Japan are performing particularly well, while South Africa and the EU are on the road to recovery.
Global meat trade is highly volatile, but reached a record-high Q1 level of 3m tonnes. Aside from the changes in raw trade driven by AI, along with the meat scandal, a potentially big—but still uncertain—development could be the entry of Chinese cooked chicken into the US market.