By Charlie Reeve
Total UK poultry meat production lifted to 163,900 tonnes in May 2025, marking a 2% increase compared with the same month last year.
Production has continued to rebound in recent months following seasonal fluctuations earlier in the year.
The number of broiler birds slaughtered actually dropped back in May, both on the year and the previous month, however, this was offset by heavier average liveweights.
Broiler meat production totalled 157,000 tonnes, up by 2.1% year-on-year.
The number of boiling fowl slaughtered increased by 11% on the year 2.6m birds, despite this, total boiling fowl production fell by 4% on the year to 3,100 tonnes
Turkey production also declined, falling by 23% year-on-year to 4,200 tonnes.
Chick Placings
Broiler chick placings remain above last year’s levels, while commercial layer chick placings have declined.
Commercial broiler chick placings were up by 1.8%% to 96.9 million chicks, which accounted for the vast majority of chick placings.
Roughly 3m commercial layer chicks were placed in May, down by 7% on the year.
Meanwhile, turkey placings eased back to 700,000 placings and broiler breeder placings fell by 35% to 500,000 chicks.
Egg prices and production
Farmgate egg prices in the UK averaged 148 pence per dozen during the first quarter of 2025, representing a 1% increase on the previous quarter and 3.5% higher than the same period last year.
UK egg production for human consumption totalled 255 million dozen eggs during the quarter, which is 0.5% higher than the final quarter of 2024 and up 2.7% year-on-year.
In total, egg production totalled 17 thousand tonnes in the first quarter of 2025, up 19% from the previous quarter, but down 7.9% compared to the same period in 2024.