Poultry Overview

Key Sector Trends

Chicken consumption has been demonstrating sustained growth over the past 20 years, with total domestic chicken consumption reaching 974,000,000 kg in 2004 compared with 425,417,000 kg in 1982. This increase of 129 per cent is due in part to population growth in the country, but also from an increase in the popularity of chicken among Canadians.

.

The chicken industry is a mature market that will have to rely on innovation and creativity to maintain its share of the meat market. The following areas have been identified as important drivers in chicken sales:

• ready-to-eat/take home;
• further processed;
• ready-to-eat/assemble;
• ready-to-eat/grab & go; and
• course-ground chicken.

Other trends for poultry products include convenient single and multi-service chicken entrées and meals, fortified products, and innovative flavours

Chicken represents 31.8 per cent of total meat consumption in Canada. Canadian consumption of chicken was second only to beef (33.3 per cent) in 2003. Canadians ate 30.4 kilograms of chicken per person in 2004. Canada had the ninth highest per person chicken consumption in the world in 2003. United Arab Emirates led the world with 53.5 kilograms per person followed by Kuwait (44.9 kilograms) and the United States (43.0 kilograms) (Source: Manitoba Chicken Producers).

In Canada in 2004, more than 62 per cent of the chicken consumed was purchased at a retail outlet; 22.7 per cent was purchased from a fast food outlet; 9.4 per cent from a full service restaurant; and 5.5 per cent was served in hotels and institutions.(Source: National Farm Products Council).

In 2004, Canada produced poultry products worth $2.6 billion, contributing 7.1 per cent of cash receipts to farming operations. Also in 2004, there were 2,787 regulated chicken producers and 538registered turkey producers in this country. In addition to the almost 5,000 commercial poultry and egg producers in Canada , there are a large number of businesses associated with these production activities (Source: National Farm Products Council).

Canada exports a wide range of poultry and poultry products to more than 68 countries, with the largest importers being South Africa , the United States and Russia . The total value of exports for 2004 was $232 million, up 14 per cent from 2003 and 82 per cent from five years ago. Canada can also provide halal-certified, kosher, and a wide range of organic meat and poultry products.

Saskatchewan Sector

There are 96 chicken producers in Saskatchewan who produced approximately 33 million kilograms of chicken in 2004. Saskatchewan has one processing plant, located in Wynyard, with another expected to open shortly in Saskatoon. There are also 17 turkey producers in Saskatchewan, who produced approximately 4.8 million kilograms of turkey in 2004 (Source: National Farm Products Council).

Increased chicken production has led to more efficient operations at Saskatchewan's only chicken processing plant located in Wynyard. However, this has also created difficulties for Saskatchewan's turkey industry. As production levels have increased, the Wynyard plant has allocated additional processing resources to chicken. Consequentially, more turkey products must now be shipped out of the province for processing. In the past three years, the amount of turkey transported out of province for processing has escalated from approximately four per cent to nearly 39 per cent of provincial production.