number of birds slaughtered had increased by 46% in the pe- riod 2010-2018. However, Hungary’s total poultry production is relatively small compared with the European poultry mar- ket as a whole. The market is mainly dominated by seven countries who produce 70% of the total volume of poultry- meat produced in the EU, in which Hungary only produces 3.5%. But production in Hungary is growing rapidly. “The government would like to emphasise our support for this growth to continue,” he said. European poultry production is also expected to grow. According to a forecast by the Europe- an Commission, it is expected to increase by 2.5% this year, and another 1% in 2020. Poultrymeat consumption is grow- ing too, in the EU and even more in the rest of the world. Afri- can Swine Fever has led to poultry partially replacing pork in total meat consumption. However, in context of some people starting to eat less meat or even no meat at all, Danish professor Peter Sandøe ad- dressed a serious concern for the future: Will it be OK to eat meat in 2030? Yes, he concluded, for most people it will still be OK to eat meat but it will be less meat and especially less beef. “The poultry industry actually has a good story if we’re talking about the climate impact of our product,” Sandøe pointed out. He referred to the GlobAgri-WRR model which estimates the climate impact of various products and diet choices. “In terms of climate impact, poultry and eggs score better than burgers based on soybeans. And a completely vegetarian diet won’t work either. There are products that we can’t eat ourselves but that can be turned into animal protein by feeding them to chickens.” He had a warning for the
industry: with the low climate impact of poultry products and no negative health impact, the poultry industry is well posi- tioned for the future but it has one vulnerability, and that is animal welfare. He urged the industry to take this issue seriously and address the public’s concerns. Psychologist Attila Forgács, head of the Psychology Studies Centre at the Corvinus University of Budapest provided an in- teresting perspective that highlighted the importance of im- age. He discussed a Hungarian study of consumer behaviour and branding. When consumers were asked about two brands of mineral water while both bottles were actually filled with exactly the same water, consumers associated more positive feelings towards one brand than the other. “Consumers were willing to pay twice as much for one brand compared with the other because it was the ‘best tasting wa- ter’,” Forgács noted. They did a similar study on how Hungari- an consumers viewed poultrymeat compared with pork. These consumers preferred chicken to pork. They named as its strengths: ‘produced nationally’ and ‘healthy’. But there was also a weakness: poultry was seen as less exciting. “You have to help the consumer, give them advice on how to pre- pare poultrymeat in different ways to make chicken a little more exciting,” Forgács recommended. President Lopez closed the assembly, pointing out that the European industry is not pessimistic despite the trade con- cerns raised. “Is the glass half empty or half full? I prefer to say that it’s half full. But we need to be realistic about our expectations and work hard to maintain our position in the marketplace.”
▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 9, 2019
The new Merco- sur trade agree- ment will cost European poul- try producers about 6 million birds a week that they can no longer produce for the domestic market.
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