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Poultry Processing Industry Profile Excerpt
| SIC Codes: 2015 NAICS Codes: 311615 Page Length: 10-12 Last Quarterly Update: 10/6/2008 View Sample Industry Profile |
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The poultry-processing industry comprises about 500 companies with combined annual revenue of $40 billion. Large companies include Tyson Foods, Pilgrim's Pride, and Perdue Farms. The industry is highly concentrated: the 50 largest companies hold more than 90 percent of the market.
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
Demand is driven by population growth and export markets. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient production and distribution, because the finished product is a commodity. Big companies have large economies of scale in production and distribution. Small companies can compete successfully by serving a limited geographical area or by producing a specialized product. Average annual revenue per employee at big processors is $150,000.
PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY
Major products are fresh or frozen young chickens, fresh or frozen turkeys, cooked or smoked poultry, and other birds such as ducks, geese, and Cornish hens. Young chickens account for about 65 percent of industry revenue, processed meats 25 percent, and turkeys less than 10 percent.
Chickens grown for eating (rather than laying eggs) are called broilers. About 9 billion broilers are produced in the US each year; the average broiler weighs 5 pounds. The large producers use industrial techniques that have been developed to produce chicken products at the lowest possible cost. These involve large feeding operations - using chicken breeds that efficiently turn feed into meat - and large distribution systems that can rapidly put fresh chicken parts (a highly perishable product) on supermarket shelves.
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