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Level 7, 122 Walker Street
NORTH SYDNEY
PO Box 579, North Sydney NSW 2059
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Impact of Drought on the Chicken Meat Industry
The long term drought currently being experienced by Australian farmers also impacts the chicken meat industry. Grain is the major component of the feed used to raise meat chickens and its price represents a significant proportion of the industry's imput costs. Thus the current elevated grain price, with wheat being sold at 80% above the normal cost, has a major impact on the industry's costs. This is the topic of the October ACMF Media Release.
It is of interest to observe that in a normal year, domestic sale of wheat represents about a quarter of total sales with the remainder being exported. During drought, export sales are severely reduced and domestic sales become more prominent. Almost half of all domestic sales of wheat are used to feed livestock, namely cattle, chickens and pigs. The chicken meat industry in turn uses around 22% of the feedgrain wheat. The two graphs below illustrate the importance of feedgrains to the chicken meat industry.
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