Chicken producers expect consumption to pick up

Romanian chicken producers project rising consumption this year amid dwindling population income and consumers' switching to cheaper products.

"Chicken consumption will constantly increase. People will eat chicken and not tomatoes given vegetables record prices," says Puiu Ilisei, chairman of Euroavi Călăraşi, a company with 11m-euro turnover in 2009.

Poultry is one of the few foodstuffs that registered price increases of below 5% in December 2010 against the same month of the previous year, while vegetable prices rose by 22% in the same period, while potatoes saw record prices, after a 45% advance in one year, according to the National Statistics Institute data.
"The chicken market will rise by 2%. Last year, the subsidy that covered 16.5% of the price was done away with, and the grain price hike pushed costs up by 8%. Thus, the total cost increase amounts to 35.5%. Prices are likely to go up by 25% this year," says Grigore Horoi, chairman of Agricola Bacău, a major player on the market.

However, he expects domestic consumption to increase further, especially as in the West chicken consumption stands at 30 kg/capita, while in Romania it reaches 20 kg/capita.