Poultry farming suffers from a cold winter, and chicken seedlings can only be burned if they can't be sold.

After two years of trough, the poultry industry, which had hoped to take a turn for the better in 2014, has become even more depressed under the influence of the market panic triggered by the H7N9 bird flu epidemic. According to the analysis of industry experts, the poultry breeding industry will be forced to transform and upgrade to improve its anti-risk ability.

"the young chickens that can't be sold have been burned. I feel sorry for them."

In recent days, Wang Lei, a broiler farmer in Liuyuan Town, Linzhang County, is worrying about this year's breeding plan. "I lost more than 50,000 yuan last year."

Wang Lei has been raising broilers since 2012. His greenhouse can raise 10,000 broilers at a time and can produce 60,000 broilers a year. In the first year, I lost more than 40,000 yuan due to lack of experience. I had hoped to turn around last year, but I did not expect to encounter an industry-wide recession and lost it again.

"our chicken farmers didn't make any money last year, and many people are not going to raise chickens this year." Wang Lei said.

Broiler farming is a dominant industry in Linzhang County, with nearly 300 large-scale farms and households. The market panic caused by H7N9 bird flu has hit this broiler breeding county hard. "there are a lot of empty sheds now. At least half of the chicken farmers have suspended farming and are in a wait-and-see state. " Linzhang County Animal Husbandry Bureau Animal Health Supervision Institute Huang Zenggang told reporters.

In Guantao County, the hometown of Chinese laying hens, the breeding industry is also depressed. "Last year, most chicken farmers in the county lost money." A staff member of the Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Bureau of Guantao County said that some small farmers feel that it is better to raise chickens than to work to earn money, and have given up raising chickens.

According to the data provided by the Provincial Animal Husbandry Association, the laying hen industry in Hebei Province suffered a loss in 2013. "the price of eggs has been low for a long time, and the price of eliminated chickens is on the low side, while breeding costs, such as feed prices, labor wages, and epidemic prevention costs, have risen instead of falling. The persistently depressed market has left farmers and breeding companies out of breath." Liu Wenke, secretary general of the provincial animal husbandry association, said.

The downturn of the terminal commodity chicken market began to spread upstream, and it was difficult to sell chicken seedlings in most poultry farms in Hebei Province. "the current situation is not very optimistic, and it is difficult to predict when to get out of the downturn." Zhang Junyi, marketing director of Wu'an Ruiyang Poultry breeding Co., Ltd., said that the price of chicken seedlings was on the low side and sales were not smooth, so he had to sell some breeding eggs as commercial eggs, and "some young chickens that could not be sold had to be incinerated."

"the young chickens that can't be sold have been burned. I feel sorry for them." Zhao Xili, the person in charge of the first kind of chicken farm in Ningjin County, said helplessly.

The factors of overcapacity and cost increase can not be ignored.

"the poultry industry usually has a cycle of two or three years, and everyone was optimistic about the market in 2014, but the market panic caused by the bird flu epidemic has made end customers lose confidence." Zhang Junyi analyzed that if the bird flu epidemic passes quickly, the industry should usher in an inflection point this year. However, the continuing news of human infection with H7N9 bird flu has continued to panic in the market, which has cast a shadow over hopes of a recovery in the poultry industry.

While the industry generally blames the market downturn on the market panic caused by the H7N9 bird flu epidemic, some experts believe that the overall excessive supply of the poultry industry is also an important reason for the industry's losses.

Relevant data show that after the golden period of development in 2010 and 2011, the excessive introduction of ancestral chickens in China has led to a serious imbalance between supply and demand in the industry. In 2012 and 2013, the domestic poultry industry introduced about 1.4 million to 1.5 million sets of ancestral chickens, while under normal circumstances, the introduction volume to match the market demand should be between 1 million and 1.1 million sets, resulting in an estimated surplus supply of 200 to 240 million commercial chickens.

The reporter interviewed some poultry farms in Hebei Province and learned that before 2013, chicken seedling sales were generally good, and they also increased the amount of introduction. "from 2010 to 2011, the highest price of chicken seedlings can be sold at about 5 yuan each, and farmers are optimistic, and poultry farms have also begun to increase the amount of introduction. After two or three years of accumulation, by 2013, overcapacity in the industry has been quite obvious. " A person in charge of a poultry farm said. However, in 2013, some enterprises still had a fluke mentality, and the number of ancestral chicken introduction rose instead of falling, further increasing the supply of chicken seedlings.

"at that time, I felt that raising broilers was quick and the market was good, so I wanted to raise chickens to get rich." Wang Lei, who tried to raise broilers in 2012, said many farmers around him joined the industry because they saw the boom in the poultry industry.

A number of poultry farm officials believe that the current downturn in the industry is due to overcapacity and increased breeding costs, and the market panic caused by the bird flu epidemic is the final fuse.

Large-scale modern aquaculture to enhance the ability of anti-risk

In the depressed situation of the whole industry, those large-scale and modern farms have shown a strong ability to resist risks.

Gaocheng laying hen farmer Sun Jianguo's farm has more than 50,000 chickens, using a modern breeding method, automatic manure removal, wet curtain cooling, mechanical feeding and other hardware facilities can keep up. As a result of good product quality control and disease prevention, chickens basically did not get sick. Although they did not make money last year, they did not lose much. "Let's look at the situation this year. I hope the market will get better." Sun Jianguo has a lot of strength.

"at present, the sale of chicken seedlings in many kinds of poultry farms is difficult and the price is low. I plan to buy an additional 10,000 chicken seedlings this year." Liu Zhixin, manager of Guantao County Daxin Poultry Industry Co., Ltd., said that his farm currently has more than 50,000 chickens and its management is relatively standardized. Although it did not make much profit last year, it is still prepared to further expand its scale and strengthen its management this year, hoping to make some gains.

Under the circumstances that it is difficult to sell chicken seedlings in many kinds of poultry farms and even have to burn them, the sales of chicken seedlings in Hebei Huayu Poultry breeding Co., Ltd. are gratifying. "from the breeding point of view, now is the prime time for farmers on the chicken seedlings, our sales situation is better." According to the person in charge of the company's marketing department, at present, the output of chicken seedlings in the company is stable, and some customers are buying tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of chickens.

The company fulfilled its annual target in 2013, and sales increased by 31%, according to the person in charge. "among the top 10 laying hen breeding enterprises in the country, 6 are our customers. Most of our sales targets are group customers, who have modern farms and strong anti-risk ability. "

"although the poultry breeding industry has encountered difficulties, it has also accelerated the speed of differentiation and integration of the industry, bringing the whole industry into a new stage of enhanced production capacity and transformation of the mode of production." Liu Wenke believes that the downturn in the industry will eliminate a number of small-scale and low-level management farms and households, and urge large and medium-sized aquaculture enterprises to increase investment in hardware facilities and improve the level of management, so as to enhance their ability to resist risks. In addition, the relevant departments should also introduce targeted measures to promote the quality and efficiency of aquaculture enterprises.

Taking laying hen breeding as an example, Hebei Province still shows the industrial characteristics of small scale and large groups, and the degree of scale is relatively low. Under the small-scale production mode, the production facilities are simple, the layout is unreasonable, and the production efficiency is low, which leads to poor economic benefits. " Liu Wenke suggested that according to the reality of Hebei Province, emphasis should be placed on supporting chicken farms of the size of 10000 to 30000, so that they can be transformed as soon as possible. "as long as poultry farming enterprises speed up the transformation and upgrading, practice internal skills, and survive the downturn, they will live a better life." Liu Wenke thinks. Reporter Ma Yanming