Diseases create disturbances on the poultry market

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2025/10.

What is more, another poultry disease called Newcastle disease is also present in Poland and it is very difficult to stop.

Attila Lippai
commercial director
Master Good Group

“In the first half of 2024 there was deflation on the domestic market, with a readjustment following the discontinuation of government-fixed prices, while in the second half of 2025 the difficulties of the European markets became increasingly apparent on the domestic market as well”,

says Attila Lippai, commercial director of the Master Good Group.

The category is strongly driven by breast fillet, which has been the leading product in the segment for years.

Domestic out, import in?

Despite the current problems, the long-term outlook for the poultry market isn’t bad. According to various studies, poultry meat will be the fastest-growing meat variety in the world in the longer term, accounting for at least 47% of the market in five years’ time.

Levente Iványi
general director
Pro-Duck

Levente Iványi, general director of Pro-Duck Kft. reckons that the introduction of the margin freeze creates a big challenge for every actor in the value chain.

“In the short term our experience is that it is often better to export the product than to sell it on the domestic market. Of course we wish to keep our domestic markets, so we need to strengthen cooperation with our trading partners”,

he explains.

Sándor Hurtony
managing director
HURRA Trade

Sándor Hurtony, managing director of HURRA Trade Kft.:

“Lots of producers have switched to broiler chickens, which have a much higher turnover rate and are much easier to automate in industrial processing”.

In his experience demand for chicken meat is on the rise and the popularity of packaged products keeps growing. 2024 was a challenging year for turkey processing, but there are already signs of market stabilisation.

Beáta Bukovenszki
head of domestic sales
Gallicoop

“Demand has shifted towards products covered by the margin freeze decree, which in the case of our company’s products has been turkey sausage”,

reports Beáta Bukovenszki, head of domestic sales at Gallicoop Zrt.

Diced, sliced, marinated

Live chicken supply plays a key role in this year’s expected results, points out Attila Lippai. The Master Good Group is in a fortunate position in this regard, as they are successfully combating the pandemic year after year. During the years of soaring inflation demand for the cheapest products (tail, offal, soup packs) increased significantly, but since then this trend seems to have stopped and customers are turning back to more traditional products (breast fillet, leg parts). There is stable demand for more expensive brands: Tanyasi is performing excellently, the GMO-free range is breaking sales records month after month and the BBQ season is also producing excellent figures. The market for multi-pack and small vacuum packed products is gaining ground at the expense of counter-sold products.

This year has brought good sales figures for Pro-Duck so far. Although the rise of private labels affects the entire market, the company has found that shoppers can distinguish between the brands sold in stores. The company’s corn-fed chicken product is more and more popular – both as a whole and in parts. As the company sees that an increasing number of consumers are focusing on healthier meat consumption, Pro-Duck does its best to meet these demands with its innovations in the future.

Popularity of packaged products has been rising steadily

Machines for efficiency

HURRA Trade’s most popular products are chicken breast fillets and turkey breast slices prepared for different kitchens. Owing to the surge in the price of breast fillets, demand for thigh fillets has increased. This year the company has focused on installing new machinery and they would like to continue going on this path. They have put new packaging machines in use, as well as a new calibration line and higher-performance machines.

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