European chicken market remains stable once again

The supply on the poultry market is ample, yet prices remain stable. This is mainly due to a slight increase in poultry prices in Poland, which is now influencing the entire Northern European market.The average EU broiler price has remained largely stable. Over the past month, the average EU poultry price increased by just 0.4%. In other words, prices have practically remained unchanged. In Northern Europe we see a similar trend. According to Eurostat, prices on the Belgian market – which is the most representative benchmark, as the Netherlands does not report its prices to the EU – have risen since week 5, although not substantially. In week 10, prices were 2.7% higher, reaching €247.09 per tonne.Polish prices are somewhat less stable because the overall price level there is lower. It remains difficult to find enough buyers to push prices closer to the general European level, which puts considerable pressure on the market. However, over the past three weeks prices have stabilized, with consistent quotations between €190 and €200 per 100 kilos.Poultry prices remained stableMeanwhile, slaughter prices for poultry have also remained very stable. Within the poultry meat market it is reported that supply is improving. For the time being, however, this has not yet been reflected in prices. Slaughter prices in the Netherlands remain largely unchanged. The VCN-ex quotation is still at €1.10 per kilo.Prices on the open market have also remained unchanged at €1.19 per kilo, which is considerably above the level of the Dutch market. This difference can largely be explained by the fact that in recent years a large share of chickens from the open market has been exported to Belgium. Slaughterhouses in our southern neighbor are willing to pay significantly higher prices. As a result, prices in Deinze are currently at €1.23 per kilo.Polish price rising again The ample supply is no longer putting pressure on poultry prices. At the end of last year, prices declined sharply, but the market has now found its balance again. This stabilisation started in the Polish market, which counts Northern Europe as its main sales region. In the first months of the year, a significantly higher poultry supply in Poland caused a sharp drop in prices there. Through exports, this also affected prices in the major European markets.For the time being, the Polish market suggests that stability will continue. Prices reported by the Polish Ministry of Agriculture have been increasing slightly every week since week 5. The increases are not strong enough to push prices clearly upward again, but they do indicate that downward price pressure has disappeared. The price increased by 3.3%, or 168.51 zloty per tonne (around 4 cents per kilo), reaching 5040.03 zloty per tonne (€1.18 per kilo).