Living on the margins ...
Andy Dawkins, Managing Director of Faccenda Group gave a presentation entitled ‘Living on the Margins – a view on today’s UK Poultry Industry’ in which he noted that Trust, Transparency and Traceability are key to consumer. There is a battle for hearts and minds both in terms of price and supply. Value is up but volume is down as the red meat industry fights back and makes inroads into the traditional white meat market of the Christmas trade. Consumers are time poor and want innovation. They also want provenance, health and welfare and a key influence is celebrity chefs. The industry needs to look at our assurance schemes – such as Red Tractor and Freedom Foods – and make sure that they are fit for purpose. Supply side consolidation has been good for the industry and has resulted in fewer bigger and better processing plants. Differentiation in terms of our offer and how we conduct ourselves is the key going forward. On promotions Andy commented that the downside is that they erode perceived value and promotes false demand. We have strong demand however, consumers need security of supply and birds on the ground. The retailers are concerned about maintaining the supply chain and are happy to put their ‘arms around us’ – there is recognition that we produce the right product, that there is no need for more rationalisation and that we do a pretty good job’. However, the industry needs good infrastructure, for example good chicken sheds and so expansion into new sheds is a good thing provided it does not get out of hand. ‘Phase’ one is fine, ‘phase’ two could be problematical. ‘Demand has grown faster than our estate’ to the extent that there are a lot of older sheds out there which needs addressing but at an appropriate pace.
Other speakers were Richard Griffiths, Food Policy Director of the BPC, Tom Wornham, broiler grower and Phil Hammond from Crowshall Veterinary Services. For more information on their presentations go to http://www.poultryconference.com/SWCA/ConferencePapers.aspx