Home
News
last update:Sep 29, 2008
Rabobank: overall input costs meat rising
Although feed prices seem to be stable - or even declining - farmers still
face high energy and water bills according to Albert Vernooij, meat sector
analyst at Rabobank in the Netherlands.
"Wheat prices nearly doubled in 2007 but prices have pulled back
substantially due to large harvest prospects this year, with feed wheat
especially in plentiful supply. Maize and feed barley markets are also easing"
Vernooij said.
Jorge de Saja, secretary general of Spain's feed makers
association CESFAC said plunging wheat prices and expectations of abundant low
quality wheat in Britain and elsewhere could reduce costs for the feed industry.
He said this would likely lead to an easing in feed prices, though only by a
limited amount due to other costs such as energy and packaging. French animal
feed body SNIA also pointed to the high cost of ingredients such as soy meal in
a report.
Robert Newbery, poultry adviser at Britain's National Farmers'
Union (NFU) said: "Other significant costs like energy and even inputs like
water are getting more and more expensive so overall the input costs are on the
rise for poultry producers."
While poultry, with a shorter lifecycle,
responds more quickly to changes in production costs, there is less of a
correlation for other meats such as pork and beef. "It takes a while before the
supply in animals changes due to costs such as feed prices," said Rabobank's
Vernooij.
"For poultry, we could see an effect starting in three to six
months, for pork it should take more than a year and in beef you have not seen a
real reaction in prices to feeds costs, because that cycle takes two to three
years."
Click here for the free Pig Progress
newsletter
Editor PigProgress
To comment, login here
Or register to be able to comment.