The British Pig & Poultry Fair took place this week, and proved popular, with standing room only at the forum programmes.
Visitors were able to learn about the outlook for the poultry sector, led by Chris Hall from Cargill and Tom Willings, formerly of Noble Foods.
This was followed up by the pig market outlook featuring Phil Woodhall from Thames Valley Cambac and Meryl Ward of AHDB Pork.
Although the sectors are facing different challenges and opportunities, there are also considerable similarities, with retail price pressure, potential oversupply and a need for innovation being a few of the common themes.
Audiences learnt that in the poultry market, volume sales have increased by 5.2% over the past year, but in price terms the total spend is only 1.5% up.
Duck is outperforming both chicken and turkey, with a 45% increase in volume sales and a 37% rise in value.
Hall said: “That is really being driven by a huge amount of innovation – duck is leading the way.”
He added that processors can learn from the duck sector by making better use of the whole carcase at a time when consumers are increasingly demanding quick and easy cuts like breast fillets.
The same is true in the pig sector, with consumers eating more ready meals and snacks and taking less time to prepare meals from scratch.
Woodhall explained that sales of fresh and processed products like sausages have declined, and said that more needs to be done to produce innovative products.
He said: “Savoury snacks are where the future is.”
Pig prices have slumped over the past couple of years, as slaughtering and carcass weights have both increased, he added.
However, UK and EU production is now likely to ease; the UK premium over EU pork has narrowed, and consumption is tracking back up.
In the afternoon sessions, producers heard how to make marginal gains in productivity and profitability through small changes.
ABN explored how producers could benefit from innovation in nutrition, while a range of farmers and industry experts discussed how technology, performance recording and everyday attention to detail was helping them to improve their own businesses.
“With more than 80 new products highlighted in the new Innovation Trail, visitors had plenty of bright ideas to take home to improve their businesses,” said Fair Organiser Alice Bell.
“The atmosphere on the first day of the Fair was extremely upbeat.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
