Poultry industry leaders in Germany are pressing the country’s food retailers and consumers to share drought-inspired feed cost rises by each paying producers more for chicken and turkey products.
According to ZDG, Germany’s poultry producer organisation, chicken and turkey feed costs are currently running 25% above last year’s levels, due largely to the impact of the summer drought on the country’s wheat crop.
This has prompted ZDG to issue a warning that poultry producers and processors cannot carry the higher costs on their own.
“Food retailers must increase what they pay producers,” said ZDG’s Thomas Storck, Chairman of VDP, the Association of German Turkey Producers, and Rainer Wendt, Chairman of BVH, the Federal Association of Rural Chicken Producers.
“Consumers should also be ready to pay more for poultry meat.”
