During the 3rd Hubbard premium forum in Barcelona I was asked to shed a light on the economics behind broiler production and alternative broiler segments. The bottom line is that it is smart to be different, to move away from the bulk market. At least when you are a producer in Europe, because our continent is really different from the rest of the world.

EU: the most expensive production location

Recently I worked on an extensive dataset, comparing production costs of all main poultry producing countries around the world. And there is only one conclusion, Europe is the most expensive production location for regular broiler production. Producers have to comply with the most stringent set of rules and regulations, face pressure from animal welfare organisations and have to cope with high land prices as well as high labour costs. The average production cost of broilers is € 0.825 per kilogram live weight, € 1.46 including processing costs. Competitors like Brazil and Ukraine are able to produce the same chicken for € 0.38 less and have a cost price advantage of 22-24%. Even when these countries have to pay the full import levies into the EU, they are still able to be competitive and make a profit.