For 2004, the biggest headline story about the Canadian chicken industry was the outbreak of avian influenza in British Columbia, resulting in the destruction of millions of birds and loss of $60 million in farmgate receipts.
“It definitely was a huge shock for the industry,” Chicken Farmers of Canada chair David Fuller said March 24 at the CFC annual meeting. “That was the big story.”
But in fact, except for the B.C. farmers directly affected, 2004 was a good year for the Canadian chicken industry.
“It was a strong year in many ways,” said Fuller. “Prices were strong, feed costs were down, demand was high and profitability was good, better than it has been for awhile.”
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The consumer price index for chicken last year increased 7.7 percent, more than three times higher than the consumer price index increase for all food items.
Chicken also reclaimed its perch in 2004 as the most popular Canadian meat, a status it lost in 2003 as Canadians ate more beef because it was cheaper and to support the cattle industry after BSE.
In 2004, according to the CFC annual report, per capita consumption of chicken increased to almost 31 kilograms compared to 30.4 kg for beef, which fell by four percent.
“Overall, there is no indication that consumer confidence in and demand for Canadian chicken suffered as a result of the (flu) outbreak,” said the CFC annual report.
Fuller said the incident, while painful, has led the industry and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to be better prepared for future outbreaks of disease.
“You never know when it will happen again or what form it will take so we have to keep preparing,” said the Nova Scotia producer. “But there certainly were lessons learned last year. We will be better prepared.”
Production dispute
Last week, CFC board members were locked in a disagreement over production prospects for 2005 as the national system edges toward one billion kg of production (eviscerated).
Many producer representatives around the table offered optimistic estimates of demand for the June 26ÐAug. 20 marketing period while processing and retail representatives were urging more conservative plans.
At one point during the discussion, processor representative Tony Tavares accused the producers of offering “political numbers” to justify increased production.
The March 24 board meeting ended without agreement and directors will try to resolve the impasse in April.
Fuller said that like all supply managed sectors, the chicken industry is nervously watching developments at World Trade Organization talks where a number of countries are pushing for tariff reductions that could make the Canadian industry more vulnerable to cheaper imports.
He said the industry will continue to insist that Canadian negotiators preserve Canada’s over-quota tariffs that limit foreign access to five percent of domestic demand.
“Clearly this is an issue hanging over the industry,” he said in an interview. “We know there is a push on tariffs and we are telling our government it will not be good enough to come back and say, ‘well it was 146 to one.’ There are only a handful of countries that really care about this issue and I believe our position is strong and can be defended.”
