Australian poultry industry continues
to focus on domestic growth
Consumption levels are
rising, and prices stable,
favoring continued
development of the
local market.
2500
Gross value of Australian poultry production 2000-2011
2179
2000
1861
$m
1000
1500
1060
1175
1273
1264
1304
1294 1637
1785
1223
500
Australia’s consumption of chicken
meat is expected to increase by 10
percent over the next couple of years
from its current level of 43.9 kg per
person and to overtake red meat
consumption by 2020.
In a first of its kind report, the
Australian Chicken Meat Federation
has given a detailed overview of
the state of the Australian industry.
The report reveals a sector that has
undergone significant expansion
and a product that has, at the same
time, become comparatively cheaper
and more central in the diet of the
country’s consumers.
Over the five years to 2009-
2010, production in Australia
averaged 857,000 metric tons a year.
Production of chicken meat has
mirrored global trends and, over the
last 20 years has increased by over
160 percent. In 1963, Australians ate
an average of 4. 2 kg of chicken a
year. By 2010, the per capita figure
had increased tenfold. Australians
eat more chicken than any other
meat, and the industry estimates
that consumers currently spend
Aus$5.6 billion annually on chicken.
0
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2005-06
2003-04
2004-05
2006-07
Source: ABARES (2011b), and previous reports within the same series
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
(esti m ate)
Industry estimates that consumers currently spend Aus$5.6 billion per annum on chicken
meat in retail outlets.
Concentration
Well over 95 percent of the chicken
meat grown and eaten in Australia is
produced by seven privately owned
Australian chicken meat processing
companies. The two largest, Baiada
Poultry and Inghams Enterprises,
supply more than 70 percent of the
country’s chicken meat with the
next five companies each supplying
between 3-9 percent of the market.
A large number of smaller companies
make up the balance.
