Winter Season & Energy Crisis - Helplessness of European Poultry Industry

The poultry industry is one of the most severely impacted by the energy crisis. The high cost of fuel has resulted in increased production costs, which have been passed on to consumers. In addition, the lack of available credit has made it difficult for producers to purchase feed and other inputs. The lack of available credit has also led to a decline in investment in the poultry sector from last year.

The war between Ukraine and Russia has had a significant impact on the poultry industry in Europe. The imposition of sanctions by the European Union against Russia has resulted in a ban on meat imports from that country. This has led to a shortage of chicken meat in Europe, which has driven up prices. This results the inflow of cheaper imports with lower animal welfare standards from non-European markets to some European giants, causes, consumers are becoming increasingly price sensitive when shopping and relying on cheaper imports.

The crisis of CO2 for stunning and slaughtering is another challenge facing the poultry industry. This gas is used to stun animals prior to slaughter, but its availability is becoming increasingly scarce. As a result, some producers are being forced to use alternative methods for stunning animals, such as electric shock or shooting them in the head with a bolt gun. While these methods are less humane, they are also less expensive and more readily available. ?The bottlenecks in the availability of CO2 to stun animals ready for slaughter and ferric chloride for waste pretreatment must also be addressed by the stakeholders and responsible.

A prominent company in Poland admitted that many of their breeders are now out of business; whereas the remaining are working on the cost effective methods through efficient cost cutting; i.e some company switched from fluorescent lights to LEDs. This has reduced the energy consumption of lighting 3.75 times than previous. Many farms from last quarter, considering converting to LNG and building a bioplant amid rising gas prices. The energy crisis is expected to boost the demand for solar power from poultry farms and livestock farms in Europe.

Another challenge facing the poultry industry is rising fuel prices. These higher prices have led many producers to switch from using gasoline or diesel fuel to using maize-based ethanol as an energy source. While this switch may help reduce costs in the short term, it could lead to higher food prices down the road as maize becomes scarcer and more expensive. The European Union's sanctions against Russia have had a significant impact on the global poultry industry. The ban on meat imports from Russia has led to a shortage of chicken meat in Europe, which has driven up prices.