Canada Poultry and Products Annual 2007

By the USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service - This article provides the poultry industry data from the USDA FAS Poultry and Products Annual 2007 report for Canada. A link to the full report is also provided. The full report includes all the tabular data which we have ommited from this article.

14 September 2007

4 minute read

Report Highlights:

Annual Canadian broiler chicken production advanced 5.0% in the 5 years 2001-2006, but in 2007 is estimated to increase 2.0-2.4 percent over 2006. Canada remains the third most important export market for U.S. poultry meat with record value exports during the first 6 months of 2007 at $201 million, up 34% compared to same period in 2006. Canadian broiler chicken 2006 imports were 82% from U.S. with Brazil second at 17%. The Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC) are urging Canadian government WTO negotiators of their top concerns that there be no over-quota tariff reductions or increase in minimum access levels.

Executive Summary

Canadian broiler chicken production in 2007 is on pace to increase 2.0-2.4% above last year’s level and reach about 995,000 metric tons (MT). A modest, but steady annual increase in demand for chicken at retail and at foodservice is expected to propel total Canadian broiler chicken production beyond the 1.0 million metric ton (MMT) level during 2008.

After Mexico and the Russian Federation, Canada is the third most important export market for U.S. poultry meat. In 2006, U.S. poultry meat exports to Canada reached $322 million, 4.9% above the $307 million exported during 2005. For the first six months of 2007, the value of U.S. poultry meat exports to Canada at $201 million is on pace to set a new record with shipments valued 35% above last year’s level over the same period.

In recent years, Canadian poultry companies have increasingly utilized the Import to Re- Export Program (IREP) whereby they import chicken under supplementary import license (i.e., tariff free) for the domestic market provided they export an equal amount of product, normally of lesser demand in the market. According to the GOC, imports under the IREP program to mid-August 2007 totaled approximately 50,500 MT, an amount only slightly less than the 52,600 MT imported under the TRQ. Clearly, the IREP program has become a driving force in total Canadian import demand for broiler chicken.

Canada’s chicken farmers continue to press the GOC to direct Canada’s trade negotiators to ensure that their industry suffer no economic losses from the WTO negotiations in agriculture. The top concerns of the Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC) are that over-quota tariffs may be sharply reduced, that minimum access levels may rise, and that the number of sensitive product tariff lines may be reduced.

Canada recognized the poultry meat inspection system of Brazil in August 2002. In 2006, imports from U.S. outpaced imports from Brazil in the Canadian market and Brazil’s share of the Canadian import market for chicken during 2006 was similar to a year earlier at 17%.

USDA does not permit imports of Brazilian chicken and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has strict import control procedures to ensure that Brazilian chicken in Canada does not enter the United States.

Canada’s turkey market is flat. Production is forecast to reach 164,000 metric tons in 2007 up only fractionally from a year ago. Statistics Canada reported Canadian per capita turkey consumption in 2006 at 4.4 kg (eviscerated weight), unchanged from the same level 10 years earlier.