The production and consumption of poultry meat in the world is increasing due to its nutritional properties and competitive price. It is a food with a high protein content and low fat content, which makes this food item a dietary product. It is characterized by a favorable amino acid composition and high digestibility.
The largest producer of poultry meat is the USA with 19.8 million tons in 2013, while the largest exporter of poultry meat in the world is Brazil with 3.8 million tons. It is followed by the USA with 3.7 million tons and 28 EU countries with 1.3 million tons (OECD – FAO, 2014. Agricultural Outlook 2014 – 2023).
Estimates show that the consumption of poultry meat per capita is expected to increase in almost all countries of the world. At the global level, the consumption of poultry meat per capita is expected to increase by 12.8% in the next ten years.
Poultry farming is the branch of animal husbandry in which the profit is reached the fastest, i.e. the fastest turnover of money, but it also happens that due to the market circumstances, farms engaged in this type of business quickly fail. On the territory of Serbia, there are about 26 million specimens of poultry, and most of them are grown in Šumadija and Vojvodina, where there are a total of about 20 million specimens.
The best indicator by which to measure the consumption of poultry meat in certain countries is to calculate its consumption per capita.
The most poultry meat per capita was consumed in the USA in 2013, 44.3 kg. It is followed by Malaysia with 43.1 kg, Brazil with 40.6 kg and Australia with 38.4 kg.
In Serbia, the consumption of poultry meat per head is about 20 kg, and in that segment we lag significantly behind the consumption in the European Union.
All these data, both on the global market and on the market of Serbia and surrounding countries, show us that there is room for increasing our production. From the point of view of the regrouping of producers of day-old chickens and large feed factories that fatten broilers, increasing production becomes a condition for survival on the market.
