Last week was a moment for celebration by leaders of Canada’s chicken industry.
Thirty years after the formation of their first national marketing board, producers at the annual meeting of Chicken Farmers of Canada were anxious to laud their successes.
“We have come a long way in 30 years,” CFC chair David Fuller from Nova Scotia told the meeting.
In 1977, when the Canadian Chicken Marketing Agency was formed, average Canadian annual consumption of chicken was 16 kilograms representing 17 percent of per capita meat protein consumption.
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By 2007, average consumption was almost 32 kg and chicken’s share of consumed meat had almost doubled to 33 percent.
In 2002, chicken became the most purchased meat in Canada. And in 2007, the industry for the first time produced more than one billion kg of product.
“It has been a record of achievement,” CFC general manager Mike Dungate said.
Fuller called 2007 “one of the best years on record for the industry.”
But high feed costs are undermining chicken producer profitability. And a potential deal at World Trade Organization talks would be a devastating blow, Fuller said.
He noted that the Canadian Conservative government continues to promise supply management farmers that it will fight to the end against any weakening of their protections.
“As the text is written, the future of Canadian food production is at risk,” he said. “The Canadian government must ensure that Canada’s position is accepted and respected by all other WTO members.”
He told the annual meeting that counting on WTO failure is not a good strategy.
“We need to realize that the negotiators are moving forward on all fronts,” Fuller told delegates in his written annual report. “There will be a deal but the question remains as to when that deal will be concluded.”
According to figures presented to the annual meeting, chicken production last year increased by 40 million kg or three percent.
The largest percentage growth came in British Columbia, Manitoba and Atlantic Canada.
Saskatchewan continued to lag with only a 1.5 percent production increase, the lowest in the country. Its 38.5 million kg of chicken meat production represented less than four percent of national production, roughly in line with Saskatchewan’s share of the national population.
Meanwhile, prices also were at record highs last year.
According to the CFC annual report, the average price to producers was up more than 13 cents per kg in 2007. The main reason for higher chicken prices, said the report, was compensating for the sharp increase in feed prices last year.
At the consumer level, chicken prices rose an average 7.2 percent last year compared to a general inflation rate of 2.1 percent.
Compared to its meat competitors, chicken’s price increase was dramatic. Beef retail prices increased 2.7 percent while pork prices increased less than one percent.
However, judged over the past decade, chicken retail price increases were slightly lower than its meat protein competitors.
