Weekly Overview: Poultry Company Reports Mixed; Russia Bans Imports of US Turkey Meat
ANALYSIS - It is "reporting season" for some of the top companies producing and selling poultry meat and the general trend is for improving results with dramatic increases in output especially by companies based in Russia where there has been massive investment in the industry over recent years. Russia is to extend its ban on meat imports from the US to cover turkey meat. Another outbreak of bird flu has been reported in the last week on a commercial farm in Bangladesh.
7 February 2013
4 minute read
By: Russia is to extend its ban on US imports to cover turkey meat because of fears over the possibility of residues of the beta-agonist, ractopamine.
The US National Turkey Federation and the US Poultry and Egg Export Council have spoken out against the ban after the Russian food safety and veterinary authority, Rosselkhoznador, announced it will ban imports of turkey meat and turkey products into Russia and other CU countries from 11 February.
The move follows the authority's earlier announcement of a ban on US beef and pork products because of concerns over ractopamine residues.
Several of the leading poultry meat companies have reported their latest quarterly or annual results in the last week.
In its fourth quarter and full-year results, Yum! Brands reports an eight per cent increase in global annual sales but notes that adverse publicity over its poultry supply continues to impact China KFC sales significantly with a six per cent decline in sales there during the fourth quarter.
US-based meat and food processing giant, Tyson Foods, has seen sales for the first quarter of the 2013 financial year rise from $8.3 billion last year to $8.4 billion this year and operating income rose from $278 million to $300 million.
From Russia, ABH Miratorg reports it remains the undisputed leader among Russian pork and feed producers. The total amount of realised holding investments was more than 90 billion rubles, while the number of jobs created by ABH Miratorg exceeded 13,000. Its poultry business is expanding rapidly: currently, ABH Miratorg is building seven broiler chicken farms, and a modern meat processing complex, hatchery, feed mill and elevator in the Vygonichi district of Bryansk region. In Trubchevsk district, 10 of the 12 planned poultry sites are now being constructed, and two breeders sites are planned for 2013.
Last week, Cherkizovo Group, Russia's largest meat manufacturing company, reported an increase in poultry meat sales of 23 per cent for 2012 compared to the previous year.
Rainbow Chicken of South Africa expects earnings a share and headline earnings a share for the six months to December last year to be between 65 per cent and 85 per cent lower than in the previous comparative period,
In the Ukraine, IFC - a member of the World Bank Group - is providing long-term debt financing to the country's leading poultry producer, Myronivsky Hliboproduct, to help the company expand its operations at home and beyond, creating hundreds of new jobs and contributing to global food security.
In the US, there has been news of mergers and acquisitions. Pitman Family Farms may take over Zacky Farms after the Zacky family trust retracted its offer to take over the bankrupt poultry company.
Perdue Foods has purchased the leased assets of its Draper Valley Farms operation in Washington State.
Finally, turning to bird flu news, a recently reported outbreak at a farm near Dhaka in Bangladesh has resulted in the death or slaughter of 150,000 birds. Rumours of one or more outbreaks of the disease in broilers in Mexico have yet to be confirmed.
