UK poultry, pork production constrained by labor shortages

A crisis is approaching for the U.K. poultry sector, warns the industry association, the British Poultry Council (BPC).

(Yurii Bukhanovskyi | Bigstock)
(Yurii Bukhanovskyi | Bigstock)

A crisis is approaching for the U.K. poultry sector, warns the industry association, the British Poultry Council (BPC).

Already, the average vacancy rate in farming and food processing has reached 16%. Further gaps between labor supply and demand are expected, it says, as the effects of Brexit — the U.K.’s departure from the European Union — are exacerbated by government policy. Under its definitions, production and processing roles are considered to be low-skilled, which effectively prevents additional staff from entering the country to work in these key economic areas. 

Council members are reporting that they are forced to cut back on production, according to the organization’s chief executive, Richard Griffiths. He said weekly output is being restricted by 5-10% for chicken, 10% for year-round turkey production, and as much as 20% for Christmas turkeys. 

Griffiths reports that U.K. customers are being offered a restricted range of products.

Last week, I-News reported that 50 branches of Nando’s have been forced to close, while KFC is warning of menu restrictions ahead. Both of these leading chicken fast-food companies blame Brexit for the chicken shortages. Other hospitality outlets are expected to suffer similar supply disruption soon, according to the report. 

Threat to national food security if immigration rules aren’t eased

With consumers facing food price inflation and an increasing reliance on imports, Griffiths warns of a threat to U.K. food security.

To avoid this situation, the BPC is calling on the government firstly to include jobs in the poultry meat supply chain in the categories of “skilled workers” and “shortage occupations.” Furthermore, the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme should be expanded to cover the poultry meat supply chain, it says. This would help to preserve the Christmas market for turkeys and other poultry specialties. 

Looking to the future, BPC wants to see essential food production included in core skills and education programs in order to make the sector more attractive to U.K. workers.

Finally, the organization is urging the government to carry out the first of its promised reviews of food security under the Agriculture Bill. 

Coming into effect in November of last year, the Agriculture Bill was described as “transformative legislation” covering how farmers and other landowners in England are to be rewarded with public money for public goods.

Currently, a lack of confidence in the long-term future of the poultry sector is holding back investment by its stakeholders, warned Griffiths. 

“As a sector, we see multimillion-pound opportunities to invest in our facilities and automation to create a modern, fit for the future food supply chain that carries on putting safe, wholesome, and affordable food on every table,” he said. “However, we cannot do that while the government seems determined to level-down British food production.” 

Decline in chick placements reflects lack of confidence in the sector

Already, some evidence for the fall in U.K. poultry production is emerging in latest statistics from the government’s agriculture department, Defra.

Compared with the same month of last year, chick placings were down for all sectors. The reduction amounted to just 1.4% for broiler chickens, but was more than 9% for turkey poults, and commercial layer chick placings were 27% lower than 12 months previously.

However, July slaughterings of broilers and turkeys were up by 8% and 32%, respectively, year-on-year. At more than 182,000 metric tons, total poultry meat output was up almost 3% year-on-year. 

Prospects of a Christmas crisis in the British meat industry

Many of the country’s meat companies are already six weeks or more behind in their production schedules for the all-important Christmas period. According to the British Meat Processors’ Association (BMPA), this is the result of both staff and skills shortages. Neither shows any likelihood of improving in the short term, it says.

Currently, overall job vacancies in the sector are around 15%. With the shortage of drivers particularly acute, some large retailers are reported to be offering large bonuses — up to GBP5,000 (US$6,810) — to attract truck drivers from their own suppliers, says the BMPA. As a result, food processors are struggling to transport finished products to retailers, as well as delivering ingredients to their production facilities. 

BMPA has called on the government for an immediate injection of new workers. One solution would be a temporary relaxation in the visa requirements for migrant workers, it suggests. 

Following implementation of Brexit earlier this year, visas became a requirement for incoming foreign workers, and only some categories of worker could apply. This situation was exacerbated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Majority of these workers returned to their home countries, and many have not returned to the U.K. Furthermore, there have been widespread absences by COVID-infected and self-isolating staff.

Shortages of labor-intensive Christmas products such as pigs in blankets (bacon-wrapped pork sausages) this year are likely, warns the BMPA.

Retail price rises appear to be inevitable. 

Labor shortages impact other U.K. sectors

A shortage of labor is also impacting other parts of the U.K. economy — not only the poultry meat supply chain.

Just last week, the number of job vacancies had risen to more than 950,000. According to the latest release from the Office for National Statistics, this figure for the May-July quarter was 44% higher than the previous 3 months. The increases have been reported for all business types, and for all sizes of business.

After arts, entertainment and recreation, accommodation and food service have registered the second highest quarterly growth. This was up by around 160% compared with the February-April period.

Already in July, the U.K. body for the pork industry, the National Pig Association (NPA), issued a warning of the impacts of an impending workforce crisis. 

Empty supermarket shelves and a backlog of up to 100,000 animals on farms — held up as processors struggled with staff shortages — had already occurred, according to NPA. And this while U.K. pig farmers are also facing record high feed costs.

As with the BPC, NPA chief executive Zoe Davies has also called on the government for urgent action to avert the impending crisis in the country’s pork sector.

Even without the added challenges arising from Brexit, producers in other countries are experiencing particularly challenging times. 

Earlier this month, New Zealand poultry company Tegel announced a 10% increase in chicken prices to help cover its rising costs for staff, feed, and fuel.

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