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Facts & FIGURES

Consumption

Nearly 70 per cent of Australian households serve chicken meat at least twice per week. On average, Australians consume approx. 50kg of chicken meat annually. This represents nearly half of all meat consumed!

How much meat do Australians eat?

Source: ABARES Agricultural Commodities, March Quarter 2025

Chicken meat consumption has doubled over the last 30 years

Source: ABARES Agriculture Commodity Statistics 2023/24 (Meat General) and ABARES Agricultural Commodities, March Quarter 2025

How often do Australians eat chicken as part of a main meal?

Source: Market insights for Australia’s chicken meat industry. Wendy J. Umberger and Lenka Malek, October 2020

Why are Australians eating more chicken now than ten years ago?

Source: Market insights for Australia’s chicken meat industry. Wendy J. Umberger and Lenka Malek, October 2020

Production

How much chicken is produced in Australia?

Source: ABARES Agricultural commodities, March quarter 2025

Where is chicken produced in Australia?

Locations of major primary processing plants

Source: ‘Economic contribution of the Australian chicken meat industry, May 2020, AgriFutures. Download PDF 

Chicken meat producing regions of Australia

Source: Australian Chicken Meat Federation, August 2024

What is the value of chicken production in Australia?

Source: Data sourced from ABARES: Gross value of farm, fisheries and forestry production 2024, and earlier versions of this publication.  Data is for total poultry production.  Chicken production represents approximately 95% of this.  

Price

Is chicken cheaper than other meats?

Source: MLA Australian Meat Retail Prices 2024

Trade

What is the export value of chicken in Australia?

Source: Agricultural commodities March 2025 (and earlier versions of this publication) Value of agricultural, fisheries and forestry exports (fob), Australia and Volume of agricultural, fisheries and forestry exports (fob), Australia. Data is for total poultry production.  Chicken production represents approximately 95% of this.  

How does Australia compare globally?

Source: Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade Oct 2024 Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA 

Source: Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade Oct 2024 Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA 

Source: Meat, Chicken Domestic Consumption: Market and Trade Data 2025 Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA

 

Calculated as total annual domestic consumption (KT) and converted to (Kg) per capita consumption.  

There may be slight variations on reporting of consumption rates depending on source, reporting schedules and methodologies. 

For actual Australian consumption figures see the consumption trend graph above.

PIANZ reports that the New Zealand domestic per capita chicken consumption (released June 2024) is approximately 41kg per person. 

People

How many people does the chicken meat industry employ in each state?

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How does employment in the chicken industry compare with other agriculture industries?

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Source: ‘Economic contribution of the Australian chicken meat industry’, May 2020, AgriFutures  Download PDF

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