The national supply-management agency is aiming for an
increase of 5.07 per cent in the six-week period that ended May 20 and for an
increase of 3.6 per cent in the period that ends June 24.
Imports increased by more than five per cent.
Producer prices are running seven cents a kilogram lower than
a year ago, mainly because of pricing orders issued by the Ontario Farm
Products Marketing Commission. They are under appeal.
While producer prices are down, wholesale prices measured as
a composite are up by half of one per cent, reports Chicken Farmers of Canada.
The whole-bird complex price is up by 2.9 per cent.
Retail prices for boneless, skinless chicken breasts are up
sharply (by 14 per cent) in Ontario, but down in all other provinces, led by a
4.3 per cent decline in Quebec.
The Ontario price in April averaged $13.05 per kilogram,
much lower than British Columbia at
$13.70, but much higher than Quebec at $11.49.
National storage stocks increased by 7.7 per cent; Ontario
was up by 19.9 per cent, but Quebec was down by12.8 per cent.
If that pattern holds, Ontario will be under pressure to
back off its push for greater production increases than the national average.
That’s a new policy that comes after decades of Ontario
complaints about how the national pie is carved into provincial shares. The new
deal is, however, under appeal by processors in the Western provinces.
The markets In the United States are in flux as companies
try to assess the fallout from avian influenza.
So far the losses have been greater in the turkey and laying
hen sectors than on chicken farms.
The egg situation is, however, serious enough to generate
major price increases for eggs for processing.
