Drought to leave chicken industry and consumers in a foul mood
AUSTRALIA - Chicken prices are likely to increase because high feed costs arising from the drought are savaging processors' costs.
25 October 2006
2 minute read
Dwindling volumes of grain also threaten to cut chicken production, placing chicken meat prices under further pressure.
Australian Chicken Meat Federation executive director Andreas Dubs said grain prices had increased more than 80 per cent over the past year.
"Grain represents the major part of chicken feed, for which there is no substitute," he said. "Feed in turn makes up more than 60 per cent of the production costs. So it is easy to see why the drought affects the chicken meat industry in a major way."
The two main grains in chicken feed — wheat and sorghum — constitute about 65 per cent of the contents, with corn, barley, oats, proteins and vitamins making up the rest.
Source: The Age
