The latest data from Turkey indicates continuing growth in the country’s output of chicken meat and eggs, while turkey meat production is almost 60 percent higher than last year.
Turkey’s chicken meat production for the month of May exceeded 200,000 metric tons (mt) for the first time, according to official figures from the country’s statistical agency, TurkStat — an increase of 4.4 percent from the same month last year. For each month of 2017 so far, Turkey’s chicken meat production has exceeded that for the same period last year.
At 6,888 mt, the nation’s turkey meat output was 58 percent above the figure achieved 12 months previously. Hen egg production in May was 1.603 billion, which was 2.1 percent more than one year ago.
The latest data indicates that Turkey is set to continue the poultry production increases achieved in previous years. Compared to 2016, hen egg output was 6.6 percent higher last year, and the country also recorded increases in the production of chickens (1.23 billion; up 11 percent), and turkeys (5.1 million; up 9.7 percent).
Poultry production in Turkey has expanded rapidly in recent years. According to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) earlier this year, output tripled over the previous decade, and is forecast to rise by a further 50 percent in the next 10 years.
After a 13 percent increase in poultry meat production in 2017, output was forecast by FAS to continue an upward trend this year, driven by growth in both domestic demand and exports. For the same reasons, an increase of 5 percent was expected in Turkish egg output in 2018.
FAOstat, the statistics agency of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, puts egg production in Turkey at just under 18.1 billion in 2016, and an unofficial estimate of the volume of eggs produced at 1.122 million metric tons (mmt). For 2013 — the most recent year for which the agency has published data in these categories — Turkish chicken meat production was 1.758 mmt, and turkey meat output was a little over 11,000 mt.
Growing demand for turkey meat was given as the main driver behind the latest investment announced by Erpiliç in a new hatchery. One of the country’s leading poultry producers, Erpiliç plans to increase its production capacity from its current 5,400 to 18,000 turkeys per day.
