FORECAST LOSSES OF €300 MM DUE TO INCREASE IN RAW MATERIALS AND LIGHT

According to estimates from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the cost per ton of feed for chicken had already grown by 26,20% from January 2020 to August 2021. In the case of turkey, it has exceeded 23%.

Added to this is the cost of electricity prices, which has multiplied by 6 in one year, which means an impact on each bird of 5 cents per kg, being essential for their incubation, breeding and processing.

MADRID, October 18, 2021

The price evolution data for feed raw materials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (view Report) show a critical situation for the poultry sector. From January 2020 to August 2021, the cost of chicken feed, the most common in distribution chains, rose a 26.20%, going from €297.42 per ton to €375.37. Extrapolating the data to the 600 million specimens produced each year in our country, with an average of 3.9 kilos of feed for fattening, only in that area is an estimated cost overrun of more than 198 million euros. This extra cost means going from €1.13 per specimen feed to €1.46, more than €0.33 per chicken.

These increases also affect another very common product in our diet: turkey. The cost of fattening feed has gone from €293.22 per ton in January 2020 to the current €362 (23.4% more). A 10 kg specimen may require up to 24 kg of food throughout its breeding (they are usually between 8 and 17 kg in weight/individual). From January 2020 to September 2021, the cost of feeding a turkey on a farm has gone from €1.10/kg to €1.29/kg, that is, more than an additional €1.9 per specimen. In total, more than 13 million turkeys are produced each year in Spain, so the Total extra cost could exceed 24.7 million euros.

On the other hand, according to data from MAPA itself, The national average prices of chicken paid to producers have gone from €1.82/kg to €1.52/kg (data February 2020 vs September 2021), 16,49% less (view Report 2020 and evolution 2021). In the case of turkey, prices have gone from €2.53/kg to €2.12/kg (data February 2020 vs September 2021). One 16.2% less.

These increases in feed costs would in turn be caused by the rise in the main raw materials, which only since January 2021 has behaved like this: corn (rise of 20,96%), wheat (12,16%), barley (17,99%) . In the case of “soybeans” it has increased by 33% from 2020 to 2021.

Furthermore, in 2020 the turnover of the poultry meat sector fell to 2,184 million euros (5% less than in 2019), due to the crisis caused by the fall in demand, which generated even greater pressure for producers.

In this way, the increase in feeding costs for chickens, turkeys and quails alone would account for 10,16% of the business generated (222 million euros over the 2,184 million euros mentioned), to which additional costs would have to be added such as the adaptation of facilities and logistics chain in the face of COVID measures.

Added to this is the cost of electric power, which has gone from an annual average of €34.0/MWh in 2020 to multiplying by 6 and 7 in 2021, with an average annual wholesale market price above €200/MWh. In standard poultry production (farming and poultry processing) This could mean an increase in costs of more than €0.05/kg of bird, equivalent to more than 87 million euros per year for the entire sector. Finally, there has been an increase in the CPI greater than 4%, which directly impacts the labor costs of the sector.

The total sum of all these costs puts the Spanish poultry sector in an additional bill that exceeds 309.7 million euros.

A perfect storm against a strategic sector

Poultry meat is also one of the most affected by the price war between the main chains and distribution operators in Spain. The chicken entry low cost from foreign markets, even from outside the EU, also represent an insult and a threat to the competitiveness of our sector, since in some cases low-priced poultry meat that does not meet the European production standard is being introduced into our market.

The last factor that impacts production costs has been the approval of the collective agreements for Slaughterhouses and Production Centers. With a conciliatory vision from Avianza, and the search for a stability scenario to avoid supply problems for consumers, a cumulative increase of 2,01% in labor costs is expected, which will reach 5,17% at the end of 2021, thus predicting labor stability in the sector.

For Jordi Montfort, secretary general of Avianza, “The increase in raw material prices has put the poultry sector in a critical position, together with other factors that in themselves already weakened a group that is an example of productivity, innovation and quality of its products and that generates thousands of Job positions. The data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food are just the tip of the iceberg of a very complex scenario that is affecting thousands of families in our country, at a time when we need to support our industries more than ever.”

LINK TO OFFICIAL DATA

Evolution of feed and raw materials prices. Fountain: General website MAP / Feed Price Estimation Report September 2021.

Evolution national average chicken prices 2021. Evolution 2020. Source: MAP.