Production of poultrymeat in the UK was still pushing forward this summer, with output of broilers and turkeys both increasing.

Total UK poultry meat production in July rose by 2.7% compared with a year earlier, at 180,000 tonnes. It marks the fifth consecutive month where output has recorded a year-on-year increase in 2026, with the last downturn back in February.

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It means that in the year to date (Jan-July), poultrymeat output has risen by an average 2.0% overall, amounting to an extra 23,000 tonnes compared with the same period of 2025, reaching 1.179 million tonnes.

This sustained expansion means that the sector is finally showing a positive trend this year, after running into a a series of headwinds in recent years. Between 2021 and 2025, UK poultrymeat output showed a net growth of just 0.5% over the entire four-year period, from 1.987 million tonnes in 2021 to 1.998 mt last year.

Issues affecting industry expansion over that time included planning opposition for new units, bird flu and shortages of breeding stock, and the move to reduced stocking densities for broilers.

Species breakdown

With broilers accounting for over 93% of all poultrymeat output, the growth in that sector has been the dominant factor and has mirrored the pattern of expansion in poultrymeat overall.

Nevertheless, output of turkeys and ducks has played its part, and production of these has risen at a faster rate than broilers, by an average of 5.4% during the January-July period.

Separate figures for ducks and turkeys are no longer published by Defra to preserve ‘confidentiality’ in industries with a small number of operators, but turkeys represent the greater part of their combined total. In 2021, the final year when separate data was published, turkeys accounted for 6.3% of all poultrymeat output, and ducks 1.1%. At that time, broilers took 89.1% and boiling fowl 3.5%.

Latest chick placings indicate that the expansion in the poultry sector was set to continue into the late summer. UK broiler chick placings in July were up 4.4% at 102.2 million chicks, while turkey poult placings were up 47% at 1.6 million.