Broiler hatcheries increase productivity in Poland

The Polish National Chamber of Poultry and Feed Producers (KIPDiP) reported that the production of one-day-old broiler chickens unexpectedly set a new record in 2022 as hatcheries quickly recovered from last year's bird flu outbreaks.

KIPDiP estimates that in May 2022, Polish hatcheries put 128 million day old chicks on the market. This figure exceeded the level recorded in May 2021 by 40% and became the highest monthly figure ever. KIPDiP said that the increase in production is due to the unprecedented situation in the domestic market for broiler MEAT.

“The increase in broiler chicken production came as a surprise to the poultry industry,” said KIPDiP, explaining that a year ago, as a result of the bird flu epidemic in Mazowieckie, Polish hatcheries put only 91 million chickens on the market, which was the worst result in the past few years.

At that point, the entire poultry industry was convinced that it would take years to restore the hatcheries, notes KIPDiP. Now exceptional growth in production raises fears of oversupply.

Impact on profitability?

“The Polish reproductive base was recovering at a surprisingly fast pace. One can even fear that such a pace will lead to overheating of the market and a deterioration in the profitability of production,” said Katarzyna Gavronska, DIRECTOR of KIPDiP.

Gavronska added that farmers began to notice a sharp increase in day old chick production in February, while production was close to a record in April.

“There are 2 reasons for such dynamics. Firstly, this is a huge demand for Polish poultry in the European market, and secondly, the desire [of farmers] to compensate for the losses incurred during the bird flu epidemic,” Gavronska said.

Overproduction of chicken meat

On the other hand, KIPDiP warned that high production of broiler chickens has already begun to dampen prices in the broiler market. To date, the purchase price of broilers in live weight in Poland has fallen below PLN 6 (usd 1.29 ) per kg.

“I can unequivocally say that in our country we are beginning to face an overproduction of chicken meat. I expect this situation to be of moderate concern to poultry farmers until mid-August,” Gavronska said, adding that in the coming months the market situation could worsen and the price could become “deplorable” for poultry farmers.

KIPDiP estimates that in 2021 Poland produced 2.5 million tons of poultry meat, including 2.1 million tons of broiler meat, with almost half of this amount exported.