Chicken Meat
Industry Overview
Compared to Australia’s other meat industries such as beef and lamb, the commercial Australian chicken meat industry has experienced a brief history of rapid growth. It is difficult to say when intensive poultry production began as no records were kept until the mid 1960’s. However industry sources estimate that 3 million meat chickens or broilers were produced annually in the early 1950’s. Approximately 470 million broilers were processed in 2006/07.
The chicken meat industry now operates largely through vertical integration, with company ownership of breeding farms, multiplication farms, hatcheries, feed mills, some broiler growing farms and processing plants.
Three large integrated companies supply about 80% of broiler chickens marketed in Australia. The biggest of these three companies is Inghams Enterprises, followed by Bartter Enterprises and Baiada Poultry. All three of these companies are privately owned and each has farming and processing operations in at least three states. The balance of output is shared among seven medium-sized companies (each supplying between 1-3% of the market nationally), and a number of smaller processors.
The proportion of the national chicken meat production for each state and territory roughly reflects their respective shares of the Australian population. Production and processing are located around the capital cities and in regional clusters to capitalise on advantages in distribution costs associated with transport of the end product, labour availability and services.
Chicken products and trade
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) estimates Australian poultry meat production at 842,000 tonnes for 2006/07 with a Gross Value of Production (GVP) of $1,367 million (chicken meat accounts for around 94% of this). This compares with 817,000 tonnes and a GVP of $1,363 million for 2005/06.
Retail sales of chicken meat are around $2,700 million per annum. At June 2006 ABARE forecast yearly per person chicken meat consumption to increase from 37.7 kilograms in 2004/05 to around 38.8 kilograms by 2009/10. In 2004/05, chicken made up 34 per cent of consumers’ meat diets.
Poultry meat exports in 2005/06 were 22,000 tonnes ($21 million), or just under 3 per cent of total production. In March 2007, ABARE forecast exports in 2010/11 to increase to around 26,000 tonnes, driven somewhat by increased demand for meat from Avian Influenza (AI) free countries and an assumed depreciation in the Australian dollar over the medium term.
Major export markets are South Africa, the Philippines, Hong Kong and the South Pacific Islands. There is also a growing export market for Australian breeding stock.
Imports of cooked chicken meat from NZ have been permitted for a number of years. Since August 1998 importation of cooked chicken meat from the United States, Denmark and Thailand has been permitted subject to high cooking times and temperatures (there have been no imports to date). Biosecurity Australia is finalising a new Import Risk Analysis (IRA) report on the importation of chicken meat. This report will be reviewed by an independent Eminent Scientists Group. Pending any appeals, the final report will then be published.
Australian Chicken Meat Federation Inc
The Australian Chicken Meat Federation Inc. (ACMF) is the peak industry body. Members of the ACMF include the five state chicken meat councils, the peak processor organisation – the Australian Poultry Industries Association and the peak national grower organisation – the Australian Chicken Growers’ Council.
Avian Influenza
For comprehensive information on Avian Influenza as it relates to the poultry industry and more generally to Australia, please refer to the Avian Influenza webpage created by Product Integrity/Animal and Plant Health area of DAFF.
The ACMF website is an excellent resource for information and advice concerning the chicken meat industry in Australia in general and also more specifically on the implications of Avian Influenza for the industry.
Poultry CRC
The Australian Government in 2003 approved and provided more than $23 million in funding to establish a Poultry Cooperative Research Centre (Poultry CRC).
Over seven years the Poultry CRC is expected to receive an estimated $75.5 million in funding from both industry contributions and matching Australian Government Research & Development payments.
The CRC aims to develop alternative healthy chicken products in the face of reduced reliance on antibiotics and chemicals. It endeavours to improve preparedness against emerging pathogens and ensure greater responsiveness to more discerning and demanding consumers. Continuing public demand for a cleaner and greener environment, world trade agreements and tighter controls over food safety and quality will continue to have significant impacts on livestock industries, particularly chicken meat.
In essence, the Poultry CRC is focusing on new strategies to manage sustainable and efficient production of safe, high-quality products, as well as address issues involving environmental impact and animal welfare.
Levy Arrangements
There are currently three statutory levies for the chicken meat industry relating to: research and development (R&D); the National Residue Survey (NRS); and the Australian Animal Health Council (AAHC). An additional temporary levy is currently being collected to reimburse Government costs in respect of previous Newcastle Disease outbreaks. No levy is imposed on a hatchery if less than 20,000 meat chickens are hatched in one financial year.
The levies are collected at the hatcheries on a ‘per meat chicken hatched’ basis, and as such are not payable directly by the growers. Current rates (totalling 26.74 cents per 100 meat chickens hatched) are:
- 19.5 cents per 100 meat chickens hatched for R&D via RIRDC's Chicken Meat R&D Committee
- 1.94 cents per 100 meat chickens hatched for the AAHC, effective from 01 January 2001
- 2 cents per 100 meat chickens hatched for the National Residue Survey, and
- 3.3 cents per 100 meat chickens hatched for reimbursement of Newcastle Disease costs for 5 years from 1 July 2004, under the Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement.
For further information on agricultural levies including chicken meat please refer to the Levies Revenue Service.