Poland increases its lead in poultry exports

In 2016, Poland, EU’s leading meat poultry exporter, increased its lead over its neighbors even further, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and industry experts. Just over 800,000 tons of poultry meat were exported during the period between January and November of 2016, which was a 17 percent increase year-on-year. However, an expert in agricultural markets, BGŻ BNP Paribas’s Magdalena Kowalewska stated that last year the average purchase price of broiler chickens dropped by 5 percent y/y. She reported that prices began to decline in Q3, and that this trend continued until the end of the year. The Ministry of Agriculture’s data indicated that the average purchase price of broiler chickens during the first three weeks of December 2016 was nearly 3 percent lower y/y. According to Kowalewska, the lower prices of chickens was caused mainly by an increase in production in Poland, in the EU and also worldwide. Data showed that in August of 2016, for the first time in history, the number of units exported exceeded 100 million. As far as export destinations, 40 percent of exports went to the UK and Germany. According to the expert, production of poultry meat in Poland will continue to grow, but more slowly than during the past five years.