Although next year could be a close repeat of 2009, there will be one favorable development that will be unlike the situation since 2007.
After three consecutive years of experiencing decreases in per capita consumption, the broiler industry will have at least one major positive measure in 2010, that is, an increase in per capita consumption. USDA is projecting a 0.9- to 1.2-pound increase in broiler consumption, but the National Chicken Council anticipates a somewhat more robust gain of 1.5 pounds or more in 2010. After dropping 3.0 pounds in 2009 and a combined six pounds from 2006-2009 (see the USDA Annual Broiler Forecasts chart below), the rebound in consumption will undoubtedly renew confidence in many broiler marketers that the three-year decline was not a portent for a long-term trend in poultry consumption that happened to beef consumption starting in 1976. Rather, as the broiler industry moves in to 2010 and looks at the past three years in the rear-view mirror, companies will see this time as a pause or time-out so that demand and supply adjusted to align in a better balance and improve the industry’s position to address the new realities in the marketplace, both at-home and abroad.