Rabobank increasingly optimistic about global poultry market

It is an industry, though, that can recover fast.  “Poultry is an industry with a relatively short cycle and market conditions change quite quickly compared to beef and pigs where you have longer cycles and less integration meaning less ability to rebalance supply and demand in the market. ​I am not saying the industry is in very good shape but we see there is a turning point, the outlook is better,”​ Nan-Dirk Mulder, senior global animal protein analyst, Rabobank International's Food and Agribusiness Advisory and Research, told FeedNavigator. Market conditions in China are one of the main drivers for this turnaround, he explained. “The ASF outbreaks will have a big impact on the availability of protein in the Chinese market, due to culling of pigs."​

The preferred protein in China is pork, with chicken and beef quite far behind. “People prefer to eat pork but the availability will be limited. We expect, in a best case scenario, a reduction in Chinese pork production of 10% to 20%, which is [massive] as China accounts for some 50% of the world’s pork production.”​​ China is not the only Asian market concerned, in terms of ASF outbreaks: "Unfortunately, Vietnam has also been hit, providing a big challenge for the coming period, considering these are the two biggest pork markets in Asia."​

Poultry will be the primary substitute to fill the hole: "Culling, stock liquidation in those pig sectors will impact the whole market, and chicken is certainly the best alternative. Certainly, i​f you look to the price of chicken in both markets, you can see prices increasing; that is particularly evident in China, which has been exposed to ASF since last August. You can expect that pricing trend to [accelerate] in Vietnam as well, with increasing substitution of pork with chicken there too,”​ continued Mulder. China will, of course, need imports to help plug the protein gap. European pork producers can profit in this respect. “In terms of other exporters, perhaps, the Brazilian pork sector will also benefit.”​

Local chicken production in China will also rise to address the shortage, he predicts. “However, China is very low in grandparent [breeding] stock at the moment. [China had banned the sourcing of grandparent stocks from Europe and the US, due to the threat of AI in those regions, and had relied on New Zealand alone]. Since autumn last year, China has allowed Poland to provide it with grandparent stocks, but it will take some 14 months to build supplies. So this will leave local poultry supply in China tight, the country will need to import chicken products as well.”​ The Asian developments could be advantageous for European poultry production also, said Mulder.

However, there are not that many plants in Europe that have been approved to ship poultry products direct to China, he said. “The European chicken sector is quite a bit behind the European pork sector in terms of access to the Chinese market. They can only benefit from this situation through shipping to China via Hong Kong, the traditional route. Hong Kong then re-exports the products to China.”​

Source: Food Navigator Asia