The UK’s poultrymeat sector has put on a growth spurt in the first half of this year, according to Defra’s latest figures.

Turkey numbers are leading the charge, with placings of day-old commercial poults showing an average increase of 45% throughout the first six months of this year, compared with the same period of 2025. Total day-olds placed on farms reached 5.23 million for the half year, a rise of 1.62m on last year.

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This marks a direct contrast with 2025, when turkey placings contracted by 13.3% over the year as a whole.

After growing every month from January, turkey industry expansion reached a peak in June. Poult numbers more than doubled compared with the same month last year, rising by 840,000 to 1.62m.

Broiler numbers have also been moving in the same direction. After a series of revisions to Defra’s numbers for chick placings during the first half of this year, the latest figures now show an even greater average growth rate of 2.3% year-on-year.

Numbers up

Again, this demonstrates a resumption of growth after the broiler industry marked time in 2025 overall.

In total compared with last year, an additional 13.3m day-olds were placed during the six-month period, making a first-half total of 586m. Peak months for growth were March and May, with both at 4.2%.  In June itself, the (likely provisional) increase was 1.6m to 97.1m.

These trends are now following through into the production figures for this year. After starting the year with a year-on-year cut-back in the number of birds processed of nearly 4m birds in January and February combined, the decline was reversed and moved into a positive territory for the first six months taken overall.

Total chick numbers arriving at processing plants between January and June showed a net increase on last year of 4m, to 566m.

June recorded the largest year-on-year increase of 2026 so far, with production rising by 12,000 tonnes, or 7.4%.