China’s Poultry Industry

China’s poultry industry involves the hatching and raising of poultry (chicken, ducks, geese, ostriches, and quails) to produce both meat and eggs. Total egg production was more than 27 million tons in 2009 while meat production was only approximately 16 million tons. Over the next 10 years, broiler output is expected to double and egg production will continue to rise.
Production in the poultry industry can be divided into 2 main focuses: the Broiler Industry and the Layer Industry.

Broiler Industry:
This sector of China’s poultry industry is considered to be the most industrialized and most advanced in regards to production, processing and feed nutrition. Approximately 4 billion birds are processed every year, strengthening 
Total annual output is estimated close to 4 billion birds with most of the production. This sector of the poultry production is relatively the most industrialized and more advanced in production, feeds and nutrition, and processing.

Layer Industry:
Layer industry has experienced significant changes in recent years:  Layer breeds changed from imports dominated to current equal share with domestic breeds; Layer production started to shift from the traditional northern region to the southern major consumption area; Production segments becomes more specialized, such as pullet rearing, breeder egg marketing, and hatching; And consumers become more conscious about quality products and brands. Currently there are about 1.5 billion layers in stock, among which about 1.2 billion layers in production.

In the five years through 2012, Poultry Farming industry revenue has been growing at an average annualized rate of 8.7% to $66.6 billion. Very few live birds or live bird products are imported or exported, due to strict quarantine requirements. However, China is the largest egg producer in the world, accounting for over 40.0% of global production, and eggs are exported to Japan, South-East Asia and Russia. Industry exports have been growing 9.9% annually over the five-year period, and with more foreign markets being developed, exports have strong future growth potential. Industry revenue from poultry farming has been growing steadily due to rises in poultry prices rather than rapid output growth

Among the problems facing this industry, the most significant ones include disease outbreaks, skyrocketing feed cost, short of affordable labors, restricted land use, and stricter environment regulations. In recently years, the governments from various levels have put out policies to encourage larger scale and more efficient animal production systems.  Big companies, including specialized farmers started to invest heavily in large scale automated and environment controlled standard production facilities for better management, biosecurity and disease prevention.  As the economy continues to improve and urbanization continues to grow, China’s poultry industry can look forward to a bright future.