Poultry to take two-thirds of global meat demand growth, Polish council says

Council points to poultry as the main engine of meat demand

Poultry meat will soon account for two-thirds of the entire increase in global meat consumption, according to the Krajowa Rada Drobiarstwa – Izba Gospodarcza (National Poultry Council – Chamber of Commerce), the trade organisation representing Polish poultry producers and processors. The council presents the projection as a significant opportunity for Poland, the European Union's largest producer of poultry meat.

The two-thirds figure refers to incremental demand, not to poultry's share of total meat eaten worldwide. If two-thirds of the additional consumption goes to poultry, then pork, beef, sheepmeat and all other species together absorb the remaining third. That distribution steadily raises poultry's weight in the global protein mix even in markets where consumption of other meats continues to grow in absolute terms.

No volume figure or target year was given alongside the estimate. For producers and traders the operative point is directional: the council expects poultry to be the category where new slaughter and cutting capacity, breeding stock and feed demand are concentrated, while expansion in ruminant meat stays comparatively slow.

Why poultry outpaces pork and beef

The gap sits in the economics of production and in consumer behaviour:

• Feed conversion: broilers turn grain into meat more efficiently than pigs or cattle, so each tonne of meat carries a lower feed cost.
• Cycle length: a broiler flock reaches slaughter weight in weeks, while cattle finishing runs over years, so capacity responds quickly to price signals.
• Capital intensity: adding broiler houses and processing lines costs less per tonne of output than building up beef herds.
• Price: chicken is the cheapest widely traded animal protein, which matters most in middle-income markets where demand growth is fastest.
• Dietary acceptance: poultry faces none of the religious restrictions that limit pork, giving it access to markets closed to pig meat.
• Health positioning: lean white meat fits consumer preference for lower-fat protein.

What it means for the Polish sector

Poland's poultry industry is built around broiler production and export. Supply chains are integrated from hatcheries and feed mills through to slaughterhouses, labour and feed costs sit below Western European levels, and the single market gives unrestricted access to other EU buyers, which take the bulk of Polish shipments. Sales outside the bloc go to the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Converting the projected demand growth into volume would require further investment in slaughter and cutting capacity, in breeding supply, and — for non-EU destinations — in veterinary approvals and documented freedom from disease restrictions. Capacity decisions taken now determine which suppliers are able to serve the additional demand when it materialises.

Risks attached to the forecast

Highly pathogenic avian influenza remains the main operational threat. Outbreaks trigger culls and regionalised import bans that can close third-country markets within days, and restoring access typically takes months of veterinary negotiation. Feed grain and oilseed meal prices set the margin on which the sector's cost advantage rests, and both are volatile.

Regulation and competition shape the rest of the picture. EU animal welfare and emissions requirements raise production costs inside the bloc, while trade liberalisation improves access for non-EU suppliers, including Brazil and Ukraine, to the same European buyers. The council's projection describes the size of the opportunity; it does not establish how much of it Polish producers will capture.