Chicken may soon cost same as beef, warns Co-op chief

UK’s meat of choice chicken could soon become as pricey as beef owing to rising feeding costs, UK’s biggest food retailer has warned.

Steve Murrells, chief executive of the Co-op, said that feed costs had become a huge challenge for the poultry industry and “chicken could become as expensive as beef”.

“Chicken, which was incredibly cheap and great value for money, is rising quicker than any other protein,” Sunday Times quoted Murrells as saying. 

“Customers will have to be savvy about what they can afford. They will buy a chicken, they will have it for a roast on a Sunday, but then they will use the giblets and whatever to make a soup. Customers will find creative ways of making food last longer.”

Chicken’s consumption levels far outstrip beef, lamb or pork. However, apart from dealing with inflationary pressure and rising energy bills, chicken farmers are also dealing with rising feed cost, exacerbated by Russian invasion on Ukraine.

The ingredients of chicken feed include, soya, sunflower meal (a byproduct of sunflower oil) and wheat have seen a spike in prices since their supply is currently under constraints and restrictions owing to the ongoing conflict.

Office for National Statistics data shows the average retail price of chicken has increased by 31p, or nearly 12 percent, to £2.98 per kg in the last 12 months. For beef mince the price per kg is £6.78, on the back of a similar rise. The price per kg for the two meats is more closely matched on top-end products, such as organic ranges.

Earlier in September last year, Ranjit Singh Boparan, the owner of the UK’s biggest poultry suppliers Bernard Matthews and 2 Sisters Food Group, had raised questions over the pricing of chicken.

“How can it be right that a whole chicken costs less than a pint of beer?” said Ranjit Singh Boparan at the time.

Boparan, whose facilities in the UK and Europe process more than 10 million birds a week, said labour shortages and commodity price rises will mean less choice and higher prices.