Türkiye's Thriving Poultry Sector: A Key to Protein Access

In an era of mounting pressure on global animal protein supplies, poultry production stands out as a strategically vital sector due to its efficient feed conversion, rapid production cycle, and cost-effectiveness relative to red meat. Poultry meat and eggs require significantly less land, water, and feed per unit of protein produced, making the sector particularly well-suited to meeting the dietary needs of growing populations under conditions of resource scarcity and climate uncertainty. Consequently, Türkiye’s poultry industry has solidified its role as a cornerstone of national food security, employment, and economic growth, while also contributing to price stability in domestic protein markets.

The sector has undergone a profound transformation since the 1980s, largely driven by the adoption of vertically integrated production models. Prior to this shift, poultry farming in Türkiye was dominated by small, fragmented operations with limited technological capacity and weak market linkages. Integration enabled firms to coordinate all stages of production from grandparent and parent stock breeding to feed formulation, commercial farming, processing, cold storage, and distribution within a single managerial framework. This structural evolution improved biosecurity, reduced transaction costs, enhanced productivity, and facilitated compliance with international quality and food safety standards.

Today, Türkiye’s poultry industry is characterized by highly organized and technologically advanced production chains, managed by over 14,000 integrated enterprises operating across diverse regions of the country. These enterprises ensure consistent quality control, traceability, and uninterrupted supply, even during periods of market or input price volatility. Beyond its direct economic contributions, the sector generates substantial spillover benefits through demand for maize, soybean meals, veterinary services, logistics, packaging, and retail. As a result, poultry production directly and indirectly supports an estimated 2.5–3 million livelihoods, making it one of the most employment-intensive segments of Türkiye’s agri-food system (BESD-BİR, 2024; FAO, 2023).

Production and Consumption Dynamics

Türkiye ranks among the world’s top ten poultry meat producers, reflecting the sector’s strong productive capacity and its strategic importance within the national agri-food system. In 2023, poultry meat production reached approximately 2.45 million tons, while egg output exceeded 20.5 billion units, firmly positioning the country as one of the leading global producers of both commodities (TÜİK, 2024; USDA, 2024). This scale of production is supported by modernized farms, improved genetics, efficient feed formulations, and well-developed processing and cold-chain infrastructure, which together enable year-round supply and stable market availability.

On the demand side, poultry products occupy a central place in Turkish consumption patterns. Per capita poultry meat consumption has remained consistently high, stabilizing at around 21–22 kg per year. This reflects consumer preferences shaped by affordability, cultural acceptance, and nutritional considerations, particularly in comparison with red meat, which has become increasingly expensive due to rising input and energy costs. Poultry meat and eggs thus play a critical role in ensuring access to high-quality animal protein for low- and middle-income households, reinforcing their contribution to food security and dietary diversity.

Beyond domestic consumption, the poultry sector exerts a substantial economic impact through strong backward and forward linkages. It stimulates demand in feed manufacturing, maize and oilseed production, veterinary pharmaceuticals, equipment supply, transportation, packaging, and retail, thereby amplifying its multiplier effects across the wider economy. Export performance has become an increasingly important growth driver. In 2023, Türkiye emerged as a leading global egg exporter and significantly expanded poultry meat exports, generating approximately USD 1.2 billion in export revenue. Major destination markets include Iraq, Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and several nations in Africa and Central Asia (USDA, 2024). However, heavy reliance on a limited number of regional markets exposes the sector to geopolitical risks, trade disruptions, and exchange rate volatility, highlighting the need for greater market diversification.

Structural Challenges and Risks

Despite its considerable strengths and scale, Türkiye’s poultry sector faces a range of structural challenges that pose significant risks to its long-term sustainability and competitiveness. Foremost among these is the sector’s heavy dependence on imported feed raw materials. More than 60 percent of protein-rich feed inputs, particularly soybean meals, are sourced from international markets. This dependency exposes producers to volatility in global commodity prices, shipping costs, and exchange rate fluctuations, which directly translate into higher and less predictable production costs (USDA, 2024). Given that feed accounts for the largest share of total production expenses, even modest price shocks can severely erode profitability.

Animal health risks constitute another critical vulnerability. Recurrent outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) have imposed substantial biosecurity costs and periodically triggered domestic movement controls and international trade restrictions. Between 2021 and 2023, HPAI outbreaks resulted in the loss of more than 10 million birds in Türkiye, underscoring persistent weaknesses in disease prevention, surveillance, and emergency response systems (WOAH, 2023). These events not only disrupt supply chains but also undermine export credibility in sensitive markets.

Macroeconomic pressures further compound these challenges. Elevated domestic inflation, particularly in energy, fuel, and logistics, has significantly increased operational costs across the production and distribution chain. Smaller and medium-scale producers are especially vulnerable, as they often lack the financial buffers to absorb sustained cost increases. Finally, rising sustainability demands add a new layer of complexity. Growing scrutiny of environmental impacts, waste management practices, and animal welfare standards, coupled with heightened consumer expectations for food safety and traceability, necessitates continuous investment in technology, compliance, and innovation, placing additional strain on already tight margins.

Strategic Priorities for Sustainable Growth

Ensuring the long-term viability and global competitiveness of Türkiye’s poultry sector requires a coherent strategic shift that addresses structural vulnerabilities while leveraging existing strengths. A central priority is feed security. Reducing dependence on imported feed inputs necessitates targeted policies to expand domestic production of key crops such as soybean and maize. This can be achieved through improved seed varieties, irrigation support, contract farming arrangements, and sustained investment in agricultural research and development. Strengthening local feed supply chains would not only stabilize production costs but also enhance resilience against external price and exchange rate shocks.

Equally critical is the fortification of biosecurity systems across the sector. Enhanced national disease surveillance, early warning mechanisms, and rapid response frameworks, aligned with World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) standards, are essential to mitigating the recurring risks posed by avian diseases. At the farm level, stricter hygiene protocols, controlled farm access, and capacity building for producers can significantly reduce outbreak probabilities, safeguard animal health, and protect export market access.

Another strategic lever lies in value-added diversification. Moving beyond bulk poultry meat and shell egg exports toward processed, branded, and certified products such as halal, organic, and ready-to-cook items can generate higher margins and reduce exposure to price competition. This approach also facilitates entry into premium and more diversified markets, strengthening Türkiye’s positioning in global poultry value chains.

Finally, building climate resilience must become an integral component of sectoral strategy. Investments in energy-efficient housing, renewable energy solutions, and environmentally sound waste and by-product management systems can lower operating costs while addressing environmental and regulatory pressures. Together, these strategic priorities can underpin a more resilient, innovative, and sustainable poultry industry.

Conclusion

Türkiye’s poultry sector has emerged as a central pillar of the national agri-food system, combining scale, efficiency, and organizational maturity to meet rising domestic and international demand for affordable animal protein. Its evolution toward vertically integrated production has strengthened productivity, quality assurance, and market resilience, enabling the sector to make substantial contributions to food security, employment generation, and export earnings. With poultry meat and eggs firmly embedded in household consumption patterns, the industry plays a critical role in stabilizing protein access, particularly for low- and middle-income consumers.

However, the analysis also underscores that continued success is not guaranteed. Structural vulnerabilities most notably dependence on imported feed inputs, recurring animal health risks, macroeconomic cost pressures, and rising sustainability expectations pose significant constraints on future growth. These challenges have implications not only for producer profitability but also for export competitiveness and long-term sectoral resilience. Addressing them requires coordinated policy action, strategic investment, and institutional strengthening rather than piecemeal responses.

Looking ahead, the sector’s sustainability will hinge on its ability to transition from cost-driven expansion toward resilience-driven and value-oriented growth. Enhancing domestic feed security, reinforcing biosecurity frameworks, diversifying export products and markets, and integrating climate-smart technologies are no longer optional but strategic imperatives. If effectively implemented, these measures can position Türkiye’s poultry industry to remain competitive in global markets while aligning with evolving environmental, welfare, and consumer standards. In this way, the sector can continue to support inclusive economic growth and national food security in an increasingly uncertain global environment.

References: BESD-BİR; FAO; TÜİK; USDA; World Organization for Animal Health.

Please note that the views expressed in this article are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of any organization.

The writer is affiliated with the Department of Agricultural Economics, Selcuk University, Konya-Türkiye and can be reached at mdirek@selcuk.edu.tr

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