By Charlie Reeve
UK poultry meat production increased significantly during April with total production reaching a three month high of 192,700 tonnes, according to the latest figures from Defra.
This represented a 23% increase on the previous month and an 11% increase on April 2023 levels.
During the first four months of 2024, UK poultry meat production totalled 693,470 tonnes, up by 4% on the same period last year, with broiler meat production accounting for roughly 92% of this.
UK production was at its highest levels for the first four months of the year this year since 2020.
Throughputs
The number of poultry birds slaughtered in the UK in April climbed to 109.6m for broilers, up by 11.5 million birds on the same month last year.
Meanwhile, the number of boiling fowl, including spent hens and spent breeders, was slightly lower on the year at 2.8 million birds, while the number of turkeys slaughtered in April increased marginally to 700,000 birds.
Bird placings
Broiler chick placings in the UK were down by 5% on the year in April at 107.9 million chicks.
Meanwhile, commercial layer chick placings in the UK declined by 4.5% in April compared to the same month last year, totalling 3.4 million chicks.
Liveweight
Average liveweights per bird at point of slaughter in England & Wales remained level at 2.3kg for broilers for the 14th consecutive month in a row.
Turkey
Turkey chick placings were down by 4.6% at 0.5 million chicks in the latest figures.