Analysis of egg poultry production and consumption structure in Turkey

In this study, the production and consumption structure of the egg poultry sector in Turkey was analysed. In this framework, the production structures of egg poultry farms were evaluated economically, their efficiency was investigated and the market situation was analysed. In the consumption structure, egg consumption, consumer perceptions, behaviours and preferences were examined. The research data were obtained from 68 egg producing farms according to stratified random sampling method and from 1076 consumers according to proportional sampling method by face-to-face interviews. In the study, 67.05% of the total cost was feed cost, 10.14% was marketing cost and 8.45% was pullets depreciation. Unit egg production cost was 1.27 TL and relative profit was 1.21. The technical efficiency scores of the farms were calculated as 0.86 under the assumption of constant returns to scale (crste), 0.94 under the assumption of variable returns to scale (vrste) and 0.91 under scale efficiency (scale). Egg production period was 66 weeks, capacity utilisation rate was 0.88, and egg yield per hen was 290 units/year. The average number of individuals in consumer households was found to be 3.14 persons, weekly egg consumption 28.14 pieces, average income 21.149 TL and average monthly egg expenditure 237 TL. As a result, in order to prevent increasing feed costs, it is important to focus on increasing the production potential in the domestic market rather than import tendency in the supply of feed raw materials. In order to ensure continuity in the egg market and to contribute to the formation of price balance in the domestic and foreign markets, to extend the shelf life of eggs and to enable them to be utilised in products with higher added value, it is important to encourage and support the enterprises to reach the technological infrastructure to keep the eggs in liquid or dry form for a longer period of time.