Chicken producers in crisis
UK - Chicken producers are being forced into significant losses by a flood of cut-price imports, ruthless retail competition and big increases in costs.Farmers' leader Peter Kendall warned that the country's highly-successful £3bn chicken industry will not survive the loss-making climate.
Mr Kendall, president of the National Farmers' Union, said: “The British chicken industry has been a great success story. It has grown year on year with consumer demand and produces an excellent product, promoted by the industry.
“However, as the product price is squeezed and input costs soar, the farmer is left with little over the cost of production,” he said at the launch of a report, “British Chicken - What Price?
A price increase of about 8p per kg is the only way to secure continued production of British farm-assured chicken for consumers, said Mr Kendall.
The British poultry industry rears about 850m birds every year, most carrying the Red Tractor quality mark. It has become one of the most successful food industries in the past 50 years as production has risen from 5m birds in 1953 to 778m last year.
Source: business.edp24.co.uk
11 May 2006
1 minute read
