News

21 May 2018

Buoyant mood among producers at Pig & Poultry Fair

Pig and poultry producers are ready to embrace change, with a bright outlook ahead despite the uncertainty of Brexit, was the feeling among visitors to the British Pig & Poultry Fair last week.

Producers flocked to hear industry experts offer their opinions on the outlook for each sector and here is a summary of what they had to say.

The poultry sector

• Mark Williams from the British Egg Industry Council highlighted the yearly expansion of the egg industry and the opportunity aligned with this. “The UK is 86% self-sufficient providing the opportunity to replace imports. But to expand further we need to knock imports on the head. If we don’t, we go into oversupply.”
• Richard Pearson from Chippindale Foods said that good attention to detail by staff could add £1-2 income per bird over the course of a flock emphasising the importance of recruiting and retaining the best workers.
• Price pressure throughout the supply chain will continue to be a battle for poultry meat producers, but using new technology to improve efficiencies and branching into alternative forms of production could be the answer, was the message from Patrick Hook of PD Hook.
• The British Poultry Council, NFU and Poultec launched a new apprenticeship standard at the Fair, placing greater emphasis on all-round development to shape successful workers for the future.
• Tesco also reaffirmed its commitment to the British poultry sector, with agriculture manager John Kirkpatrick emphasising the need for robust science and evidenced fact to portray positive messages to British consumers as well as help the industry celebrate areas of success and target areas for improvement.

The pig sector

• The success of the AHDB Pork marketing campaign on the healthy attributes of pork fillets and loin had boosted consumer demand, yielding a £6.43 return on every £1 spent explained Mick Sloyan.
• Export trade remains buoyant due to the weak pound, and will be critical to the industry after Brexit, said Ed Barker, senior policy adviser at the National Pig Association. However, Government demands in the Health and Harmony Paper could leave the industry trying to do too much at one time, with too little resource he added.
• Andrew Saunders from Tulip Foods said it was important to keep focusing on high welfare standards, but not to the extent that the industry shoots itself in the foot and opens the doors to cheaper imports.

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