Japan's broilermen face renovation

摘要

Around 70 percent of broiler houses in Japan are more than 15 years old and need replacing but the cost is about three times as high as in the USA. Having slumped from 744 million in 1988 to 572m in 1998, broiler production in Japan has since been fairly steady. The total slaughtered in 2001 fell just a shade below 568m, though the estimate for this year foresees a recovery towards the 600m mark. Over the past four years, the volume of liveweight produced has stabilised at around 1.6 million tonnes.However, the actual average weight/bird continues to creep upwards, coming close to 2.74kg last year, which compares with 2.52kg back in 1988. However, nowadays it is estimated that more than 40m birds are slaughtered for the Kentucky Fried Chicken trade at an average liveweight of 1.7kg hence, the average for the other 93 percent of broilers will likely exceed 2.8kg.