EU poultry industry debates profitability
The assembly, taking place from 2-5 October, brought together 160 delegates from the whole poultry chain, including breeders, hatcheries and slaughterhouses. It was hosted by French members the FIA, the France Federation of Poultry Industries, and CIDEF, the Interprofessional Committee for the French Turkey.
Outgoing president Federico Felix presented the annual report 2014, which outlined much of the work being done by avec recently. This includes welfare regulations, food safety, labelling and trade negotiations. The report can be viewed at www.avec-poultry.eu/annual-reports-overview/annual-report-2014.
A number of other prominent figures also gave presentations, including Jean-Jacques Vandenheede, current director of retail insights for ACNielsen Europe, who explained food and consumer trends in meat consumption in the retail business.
Peter van Horne, of the agricultural economics unit (LEI) of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, presented work on the competitiveness of the EU poultry meat sector, looking into the challenge of keeping the balance between free and fair-trade. The first version of his study commissioned for avec is already available on the organisation’s website at www.avec-poultry.eu/communications-position-papers.
Paul van Boekholt, business director of Hubbard for northern Europe, South Africa and Israel, gave his view on the differentiation of the broiler market in Europe, while newly elected member of the European Parliament Jean Arthuis, gave the final speech of the General Assembly, talking about his view on the future of the European Union.
