Mexico’s poultry sector set to increase production and consumption
As the Mexican economy is yet to recover to its pre-pandemic levels, consumers turn to more affordable animal protein products, increasing the domestic demand for chicken and eggs.
Mexico is set to break another record on chicken production on 2022. A recent report from the United States Department of Agriculture outlines two main causes of for this trend: First, the high domestic demand from household consumption and from the hotel, restaurant and industrial sector. The second cause is the disease-free avian influenza status of Mexico: thus far no cases of avian influenza have been detected or reported as more strict protocols have been put in place.
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the purchasing power of Mexican consumers as the economic recovery is uneven, inflation keeps rising and household incomes decrease. This forces a majority of consumers to remain price sensitive, moving the demand away from expensive animal proteins such as beef towards chicken and eggs. As prices remain high, they will remain the most popular and affordable choice of animal protein for most Mexican consumers.
For chicken meat, the reports shows an increase in both consumption and imports. It forecasts a continuing rise in 2022 as demands will remain high from retail stores, as well as from fast food restaurants who are increasing their offer of chicken items on their menus and from the meat processing industry.
The report also forecasts an increased demand for eggs and egg products for 2022 as they are very affordable and offer the best value among off all animal proteins for the majority of Mexican consumers. This demand for egg products will continue to grow, as the economic recovery continues.
Mexico and The Netherlands are currently negotiating market access for Dutch poultry meat on the Mexican market. This process has run into delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.