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POULTRY: APPLYING A DUTCH APPROACH IN MEXICO
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by Alex De Kerpel, Agrimex Holanda Representative, Mexico City
he poultry industry is undoubtedly the most dynamic livestock activity in Mexico, accounting for 63.6 percent of it in 2016. At the same time, it accounted for almost a full percentage point of the national GDP (compared with circa 2 percent product contribution from the much boasted automotive industry). The sector generates 220,000 jobs in 18 Mexican states and, with a reported 4.6 percent in 2016; it maintains a steady annual growth actually doubling that of the national GDP (2.3 percent). Last year the Mexican egg industry registered a 6.2 percent growth rate (32bn pieces), whereas chicken meat registered a 3.1 percent growth (A 6m tonnes combined output of chicken/turkey). Prospects are excellent too, considering Mexico is the leading consumer of egg on a global scale (with a 23kg annual consumption per capita) and one of the most dynamic chicken meat markets (32 kg per capita). Despite its own enormous productive capacities, Mexico remains an importer of egg (24,000 tonnes from the US in 2015), whereas the chicken meat imports (which nowadays equal 13 percent of local production), registered a growth rate of 14.4 percent in the same period (≈481,340 tonnes, mostly inbound from the US and Brazil). According to the National Poultry Association (UNA), the industry consumes 15.5m tonnes of balanced food, of which 63 percent are fodder grains (corn and sorghum with a combined 9.8m tonnes). Feed actually accounts for 66 percent+ of the poultry products’ related production costs. Mexico’s dependency on imported fodder grains keeps growing. A partial annual estimate figure for yellow corn imports stood at 10,8m tonnes (Oct 2016), of which at least 50 percent correspond to the poultry industry. The poultry industry (and particularly the egg production) traditionally concentrates in the Bajio region, the Center and Western States of Mexico (76.7 percent of total output in just 10 states). This pattern is now being challenged as the recent outbreaks of HPAI (of which the H7N3 2012 contingency represented a fall exceeding 7 percent of all poultry production) increasingly make companies opt for relocation to the East and Southeastern areas, which are less exposed to the North American southbound migration/ transmission corridors. This trend altogether represents for some companies the opportunity to modernise their existing processes and equipment. Companies are highly integrated, and a handful of them are responsible for most of the production. At least two of them, which are 100 percent Mexican owned, are leading protein producers, true references on a global scale.
The challenges ahead
The recent years’ experiences with HPAI convinced the Mexican producers and authorities to move towards the creation of a national center for poultry research on which, amongst other topics, more adequate detection/contention measures in case of HPAI outbreaks will be discussed. Closely related to this, the creation of additional compensatory funds to the affected producers is now being studied by the poultry associations themselves (rather than as a result of reinforced policies at government level). This is of course all positive in itself, as long as the larger picture is kept within sight; the design and implementation of a comprehensive policy on biosecurity including the upgrade of the logistics and transport conditions for the poultry products on a national scale. In the past few months, the local poultry industry has shown keen interest on Animal Welfare. The producers are very aware of how this subject will become a market trigger in the years to come, and initiatives on the matter have already 58 | May 2017 - Milling and Grain