World meat industry news

Analysts believe China’s supply of poultry and egg products are likely to be affected over the next 6 months due to the ongoing battle against Coronavirus.

Poultry prices have fallen sharply in recent weeks with restrictions placed on moving birds and factories closing for extended periods, effectively paralysing the supply chain. Transport disruption and labour shortages have also led to thousands of containers of frozen chicken, pork and beef piling up at some of China’s major ports.

Coronavirus is a substantial blow to the Chinese agricultural economy. Poultry production had rise by 12% last year to 22.39m tonnes, due to farmers plugging the gap in the market following the collapse in pig production to the African Swine Fever (ASF) epidemic.

Uncertainty of supply chain

Chenjun Pan, RaboResearch senior analyst animal protein, said the uncertainty of the supply chain, which has also seen some feed mills and slaughterhouses shut for a number of weeks were creating real problems. “Every step needs to work at the same pace, otherwise there will be an imbalance,” she told Reuters.

Conoravirus also hits India’s poultry sector

Meanwhile, in India the sale of poultry products and eggs has declined in the light of the Coronavirus outbreak. Wholesalers have reported a fall of 50% for poultry products, while retailers have seen sales plunge by between 25-30%. Similarly, the sale and prices of eggs has also seen a significant decline, with wholesalers citing misinformation being circulated on social media platforms as one of the reasons. The outbreak has also led some countries to ban the import of poultry products. Afghanistan has banned products crossing its borders from both Iran and Pakistan, amid escalating fears of the spread of Coronavirus.