The meat, poultry and seafood industry is experiencing a global boom, according to the 2017 Trends Shaping Meat, Poultry and Seafood Market Segment report from PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.
Factors influencing this boom include population gains; increased demand for meat, poultry and seafood; growth in foodservice; and export opportunities.
Because consumers in developing markets are incorporating more meat into their diets regularly, the meat, poultry and seafood industries have seen steady growth. As one of the largest and most efficient meat and poultry producers, the U.S. meat and poultry industry is benefitting from this growth. U.S. exports of meat and poultry increased 2.5 percent from 2015-2016. The total value of U.S. shipments from the meat, poultry and seafood segments was $227.9 billion in 2015.
Sanitation concerns, meeting global demand and minimizing labor costs are the top-of-mind trends shaping the current landscape of the meat, poultry and seafood markets. Complex regulations and lack of qualified labor are making it increasingly difficult to ensure proper sanitation. As a result, 82 percent of manufacturers are specifying more hygienic machines.
Over half of participating companies say that labor as well the expenses associated with managing a workforce are the costliest elements of manufacturing operations.
To solve the labor challenge, 96 percent of the companies in the study plan to increase their use of automated machinery in the next three to five years.
For a deeper dive into the meat, poultry and seafood market, download PMMI’s 2017 Trends Shaping Meat, Poultry and Seafood Market Segment report.
