News

January poultry production up 7% on year

U.S. poultry production shot higher in January.

The USDA says total production was 4.464 billion pounds, a 7% increase on the year, including 4.007 billion pounds of chicken, also up 7%, and 445.179 million pounds of turkey, 1% higher.

The poultry slaughter was well above the year before at 810.857 million head for chickens and 17.068 million head for turkeys, while higher total and average live weights for chickens canceled out a slightly heavier total but lighter average weights for turkeys.

Ante-mortem condemnations were 13.61 million pounds, down 1% from January 2022, representing 0.23% of the preliminary live weight, and post-mortem condemnations of 28.18 million pounds were up 6% for 0.63% of monthly meat production.

The USDA’s next round of annual poultry production projections is out March 8^th.