The poultry industry in Ireland is set to process over 100m chickens for the first time.

Last year a record 96m were processed, but current trends would suggest this will be exceeded in 2018.

Three percent higher

Production is 3% higher in the first seven months of the year and there has been 56.5 million chickens processed so far this year, with almost 2m chickens slaughtered per week, figures from the Department of Agriculture show.

There's a huge demand for chicken in Ireland

Bord Bia poultry sector manager Peter Duggan said: “There’s a huge demand for chicken in Ireland. The average Irish person eats 36kg of chicken a year, making it the most popular meat in the country.”

Imported

Each bird is divided into two meat types. All breast meat produced in Ireland is consumed in the country. A significant amount is also imported as domestic production cannot meet demand.

The dark meat, such as the wing and the leg, are exported, mainly to France, as there is less demand for it in Ireland.

In total, Ireland exported €275m worth of poultry meat last year. Of this, 80% went to the UK, where Duggan said much of it would be further consolidated before being shipped on to other markets.

“The EU market would be quite a good market for us and their imports will be significantly reduced this year.”

It is expected imports will drop from 800,000t to somewhere in the region of 700,000t, and this would be good for Irish producers.

Brazil

“The reduction in imports is on the back of 20 Brazilian plants losing their export licences to the EU for violating Salmonella inspection standards in April,” he said. Last year, Brazil exported over 4m tonnes making it the largest poultry meat exporter in the world.

As production continues to increase Duggan said there would need to be further commitments to Irish poultry from the food services sector, similar to those of the retail sector.