A negative tone in the chicken meat market

The poultry meat market remains relatively stable across the European Union, while the Northern European market is showing a downward trend. Poland, in particular, continues to exert downward pressure, despite significant fluctuations in domestic chicken meat prices. The prices in the poultry meat market in the European Union have increased slightly this week, but there is still no real rise. The overall trend in the European Union is stable, with small up and down movements. This is mainly due to significant fluctuations in the Polish market, where prices vary wildly. Meanwhile, the tone in the Northern European market remains slightly negative. This is not very unusual in winter. At this time of year, chicken fits less well into the consumption pattern than pork or beef. However, this does not seem to be the underlying cause. In recent years, chicken has performed quite well in winter, especially since consumers tighten their budgets in January and pay a bit more attention to their health. This actually works in favor of the consumer market. This year seems to be the case again. Consumption is reportedly less solid than in recent years, but still quite reasonable. The pressure on prices mainly comes from the supply side. The volumes from Poland have seen a significant recovery, making the market clearly less tight than we have seen in recent years. Although avian influenza does create pressure, its impact seems relatively small compared to the recovery of the hatching egg chain, allowing Poland to produce fully. This is reflected in the Northern European broiler market. The Dutch price for broilers decreased by 1 cent in week 3 from €1.11 to €1.10 per kilo. This week, however, the price stabilized again. In Belgium, the price also remains unchanged. The price held steady at a level of €1.19 per kilo. As a result, the price for freely traded poultry remains stable at a level of €1.16 per kilo. This price did not decrease with the Dutch slaughterhouse quotations. In practice, most Dutch chickens that are freely traded have Belgium as their destination. Looking at the meat prices, we see that prices in Belgium have decreased slightly. Since the Netherlands does not give up its prices, this is the most representative benchmark for Northern European prices. Meanwhile, Polish prices remain significantly lower but fluctuate quite a bit. The reason for this is that Northern European prices do not react strongly to the decline in prices in Eastern European countries. Depending on the demand in these countries, particularly, the price in Poland fluctuates.