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 meat chickens (also known as broilers) were processed in 2009. 

The chicken meat industry now operates largely through vertically integrated poultry meat processors whose ownership includes not only the processing plants but also all or at least some of the other elements in the supply chain, ie breeding farms, multiplication farms, hatcheries, feed mills, as well as a relatively small proportion of broiler growing farms.

Two large large and fully integrated companies, namely Inghams Enterprises and Baiada Poultry, supply about 70% of broiler chickens marketed in Australia. Both companies as well as the other six major integrated processors are privately owned. The remaining 30% of output is shared among the six medium-sized integrated processor companies (each supplying between 3-9% 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 and Sciences (ABARES) reports Australian poultry meat production at 865,000 tonnes for 2009 with a Gross Value of Production (GVP) of $742 million (chicken meat accounts for around 94% of this, with the remainder being mostly turkey). This compares with 817,000 tonnes and a GVP of $1,363 million for 2005/06.

Retail sales of chicken meat are around $3,500 million per annum. Chicken meat consumption per capita is now ahead of that of beef and is predicted to increase futher over coming years.  In 2009, ABARES reported yearly consumption per person to be at 37.2 kg which is high by international standards.

Poultry meat exports in 2009/10 were 37,000 tonnes ($36 million), or about 4 per cent of total production. 

Major export markets are South Africa, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore and the South Pacific Islands. There is also a growing export market for Australian breeding stock (exported as one-day old chicks or fertile eggs).

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 provided that it has been cooked to a minimum core temperature of 80°C for at least 125 minutes or an equivalent time/temperature in order to address the quarantine risk associated with very virulent infectious bursal disease virus (there have been no imports to date). Importation of chicken meat has been permited from any country since 2009 subject to quarantine conditions for nine disease agents of quarantine concern.  Depending on a country’s disease status, the quarantine measures may include country or zone disease freedom, or heat processing of product off-shore or on-shore (under quarantine control).

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. In addition the ACMF website also has information on the implications of Avian Influenza for the industry.

Poultry CRC

The original Poultry Cooperative Research Centre was established on 1 July 2003, with more than $23 million in funding from the Australian Government and an additional $50 million cash and in-kind contributions from both industry and research providers.  The Poultry CRC was renewed in 2010 for another seven and a half years with a total funding of $87 million, including a $27 million cash grant from the Commonwealth Government.

The Poultry CRC conducts research and drives education and training to help Australia’s poultry industries produce more from less, sustainably. This requires innovative approaches to:

• maintaining poultry health and enhancing bird welfare
• improving resource utilisation and reducing environmental impacts of poultry production
• controlling poultry product-associated food safety issues and enhancing egg quality for consumers.

The Poultry 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 diseases 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.

The Poultry CRC is an unincorporated joint venture between seven Essential Participants, namely,

• Australian Egg Corporation Limited
• Bioproperties Pty Ltd
• CSIRO Livestock Industries
• QLD Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI)
• Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (through its industry co-funded chicken meat program)
• The University of Melbourne
• University of New England

and 26 Other Participants.  It is governed by a skills-based board and is headquartered at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales.

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). 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 23.44 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, and 
• 2 cents per 100 meat chickens hatched for the National Residue Survey  

For further information on agricultural levies including chicken meat please refer to the Levies Revenue Service.