According to the EU's most recent short-term outlook report, which is based on reflections of market experts within the European Commission's Department for Agriculture and Rural Development, EU poultry production is expected to decline in 2022.

EU poultry production is supported by the relative affordability of this meat – especially in times of high inflation, as well as by the relaxation of COVID-19-related measures – effectively unleashing demand from foodservice. Despite relatively good demand, only moderate growth is expected in major producing EU countries, due to high input costs: Poland, Spain and Germany (together +4.6% in Jan-Jun 2022 year-on-year).

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has had devastating effects on the sector in some other EU countries, where the production is expected to decrease severely, especially Italy, France and Hungary (together -11%).

The sector heavily depends on maize as a source of feed, with a poor 2022 harvest but availability of volumes to be imported from Ukraine.

Overall, the EU poultry production is due to drop slightly by 0.9% in 2022 and 0.4% in 2023.

EU poultry domestic use is expected to increase slightly in 2022, by 1.1%: it is likely to remain stable at 23.4 kg per capita. In 2023, EU domestic use may remain stable, averaging at 23.3 kg per capita.