Michael Brooks, Executive Director of The Poultry Association
2023 posed challenges for many industries. For the Poultry Industry Association and farmers, the increased supply input costs for essentials, such as grain for feeding hens, was a significant challenge. Particularly given that feed is 70 percent of the cost of producing an egg and 65 percent of poultry meat.
Executive director of the Poultry Industry Association, Michael Brooks, explained that the Ukraine war had a significant influence on grain prices globally, coupled with poor weather in countries such as Argentina has also exacerbated the issue.
Although worker shortages are improving, it has still played a significant role in the challenge faced by the industry in 2023, along with the rise of inflation.
“The shortage of eggs due to the range of factors which has seen a real shortfall of eggs, with the national flock at least 500,000 hens below what would be optimal, has been problematic for the industry and seen major price rises for eggs,” said Brooks.
The duopoly’s decision to ban the sale of colony cage eggs after 2025 and 2026, even though they are lawful, means that 33 percent of all eggs produced in New Zealand will not be available for sale in supermarkets after that date, which will create significant challenges for the New Zealand egg market.
Brooks continued that removing prophylactic use as an antibiotic, Zinc Bacitracin, means that New Zealand’s poultry meat is now on par with Denmark for being the lowest user of antibiotics in the chicken meat industry globally.
“Only one percent of antibiotics of antibiotics used in agriculture in New Zealand is used by the poultry meat industry, which would come as a real surprise to New Zealanders.”
Regarding the eggs consumers lean towards, free-range eggs have regularly grown at a CAGR of one percent year-on-year. In 2022, for the first time, free-range and barn eggs became the majority of eggs sold at supermarkets, with 55 to 45 percent sales nationally. Brooks said that these statistics varied across the country depending on socioeconomic factors.
“Barn and free range will continue to become the major egg production systems as supermarkets have unilaterally chosen not to sell colony cage eggs from 2025 to 2026 onwards.”
With the cost of living, Brooks anticipates that poultry meat and eggs will be popular among consumers as cost-effective forms of protein in 2024. Changes to welfare standards will also emerge in 2024, as welfare scientists will identify the critical factors for poultry welfare, and the codes will be reviewed in the new year.
Brooks said that the export of eggs, chicken meat and livestock, while still small, had potential and growth opportunities for New Zealand. New Zealand’s ability to remain free of the world’s major poultry diseases gives it an advantage, mainly as Highly Pathogenic Avian influenza, i.e. the bird flu, is a significant threat globally, which has not been present in New Zealand. This advantage means potential export opportunities for New Zealand’s poultry industry to be explored.
Moving into the new year, the Poultry Industry Association is working on a sustainability campaign, particularly concerning poultry meat, for its minimal greenhouse gas emissions and low water usage. It is very environmentally friendly. Secondly, it is working towards an independently audited scheme to be New Zealand Egg Quality Assurance (NZEQA) to incorporate food safety, welfare auditing, biosecurity and traceability through egg stamping.
See more insights from the 2024 Buyer's Guide below:
