World meat industry news

The Mintec price for chicken in the EU reached a record high level at EUR 227/100 kg, up 10% q-o-q and 19% y-o-y in mid-February 2022. The price increase is attributed to the harsh winter weather coupled with the Avian Influenza outbreak in some EU countries (France, Spain, Portugal, Poland). In addition, the ongoing geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine could disrupt trade between the EU and Ukraine and thus support EU chicken prices   further.

Ukraine is one of the largest chicken exporters to the EU, accounting for approximately 13-15% of the EU chicken import share. The EU imports weekly 1,000-1,500 tonnes of fresh and frozen chicken from Ukraine. According to market participants, EU chicken imports from Ukraine have been disrupted by the current crisis and if the imports continue to decline, chicken supplies will be tighter in the EU. Some EU countries are already looking to source extra volumes of chicken from Poland, one of the largest poultry producers in the EU, at a price premium.

Russia-Ukraine geopolitical conflict will also act as an upside price driver for feed grain prices as both countries in total produce a quarter of the world’s wheat. This may add an upward pressure to EU chicken prices as feed accounts for 55-65% of the chicken production cost.