As traditional turkey hatcheries set their prices and start to plan for the year ahead, their producer customers still face a "perfect storm" of potential problems in Christmas 2023, say suppliers of traditional poults. According to Paul Kelly of Farmgate Hatcheries,...
Egg prices up 30% in Europe over past 12 months
EGG prices are up by an average of 30% across the EU according to new data released by the European Commission. Eurostat said the rise, over the 12 months to January, made eggs one of the food products with the highest price increases. See also: Day-old pullet...
Higher soya price halts drop in poultry feed costs
SOYAMEAL managed to climb still higher during February, halting the downward trend in ration costs for the time being. At the same time, UK feed wheat has remained steady, although the longer-term outlook for prices generally remains downward. During the past month,...
Day-old pullet placings on the up again
THE nascent recovery in the UK laying flock became more firmly established in January. Day-old pullet placings in January registered the most significant year-on-year increase since August 2021, according to the latest Defra figures. Chick numbers in the month...
Broiler placings remain under pressure
At the start of this year, the UK’s poultrymeat sector appears to be struggling to maintain momentum under the constant pressure from inflationary costs. Broiler chick placings dropped again in January after a brief rally in December. Total day-old placings were down...
Avian influenza: No significant change in outbreak numbers in January
THE number of avian influenza outbreaks and wild bird' events' was broadly the same in January this year as the month before, December 2022. Between 6 December and 4 January, there were nine outbreaks in commercial poultry flocks in Great Britain and four in...
UK poultrymeat output dipped in 2022
THE UK'S poultrymeat sector struggled to maintain its momentum last year, as output dipped across all categories. Total production of all poultrymeat fell by 51,000 tonnes during the year as a whole, compared with 2021, amounting to a decline of 2.6%, according to the...
Ronald Kers to leave 2 Sisters Food Group
2 SISTERS has announced that group chief executive Ronald Kers is to leave the business. Mr Kers joined 2 Sisters in 2018 and is leaving to take the chief executive role at Irish multinational food producer Valeo Foods. See also: Welsh government sets up task force...
Feed wheat drops again but soya remains high
SPOT feed costs have now slipped back to their lowest point since the invasion of Ukraine a year ago, but still remain well above where they were before it began. At the start of this month, the cost of our Basic Layers' Ration was down to £340/tonne. See also:...
Seasonal turkey sales lost out to chicken at Christmas
SEASONAL turkey sales suffered as shoppers switched from the traditional Christmas roast to alternatives like chicken, lamb or gammon in 2022, with some gains also made by beef. But turkey remains the choice centrepiece for most at Christmas, with IGD data suggesting...
UK laying hen flock shows signs of recovery
Tentative signs that the UK egg flock may have finally bottomed out have emerged in the latest chick placing data from Defra. Figures for day-old pullet placings have now been released for the last two months of the year, which recorded the first monthly rise in chick...
Turkey numbers down in 2022
IT proved to be a disappointing year for the turkey sector in 2022 with fewer poults raised throughout the year, and culminating in a sharp drop in whole bird sales in the Christmas period. Poult placings fell every month last year, compared with the same months of...