an editorial supplement to The Grocer Birds lay a golden egg The republic keeps much of its poultry for consumption at home but the north tells a different tale. John Wood reports Poultry is big business in Ireland and the UK is keen to buy the biggest part of it. The market in the province is dominated by Moy Park which claims to be the largest food processing company in the province with 3,000 employees and sales of £200m. Its primary plant at Dungannon processes 600,000 birds a week and serves three value added plants at Craigavon, Moira and Lisnaskea. Sales director Seamus Rooney says 70% of the company's business is with the rest of the UK, with the major multiples as significant customers, which stood it in good stead when the supermarkets made their move into the province. Rooney says: "We had been working with the major multiples long before they came to Northern Ireland so we knew what they were looking for from a supplier." In all its markets, Moy Park sees a move away from whole chickens towards fillets and products which are more convenient for consumers to cook, says Rooney. There is particular growth in breaded fillets and raw prepared meals, and he adds: "It is very much convenience driven and chicken sauces have helped drive growth." A small but fast growing part of the business is organic chicken, and Rooney says the company is the biggest producer of organic poultry in the UK. "Organic is particularly suited to the ethos of Northern Ireland farm culture with its small family run units." Government figures for the latest year available, 1998, show sales of Northern Irish poultry totalled £277m with £104m in the home market, £136m to the rest of Great Britain, £30m to the Irish Republic and £7.4m to the rest of the EU. In the Republic of Ireland much more of the production is for home consumption, says Pat Mulvehill, director general of the Irish Poultry Processors' Association, with as much as 95% of home produced broilers consumed in the republic. Silverhill Ducklings, based at Emyvale, County Monaghan, is an exception however, in both its products and the amount it exports. It is a family run business which does not publish accounts, but annual sales are though to be I£15m with 30% of its production sold in the republic. The other 70% goes to the UK, including a high proportion to the Chinese restaurant market. Managing director Stuart Steele estimates 10,000 "head on" birds a week go to the Chinese market and says any duck hanging in London's Chinatown will be from Silverhill. He says average production is between 70,000 and 75,000 birds a week. "Quality is our main selling point," says Steele. "We grow all our own birds so we can guarantee no GMOs or growth promoters." Overall sales are increasing by 15% a year, but some cooked products are up by 100%, according to Steele, who says the company will double its cooking capacity this year. {{SUPPLEMENTS }}