As meat consumption grows at one of the fastest rates of any agricultural commodity, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization in association with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released a report forecasting food commodity prices through 2021. The report states that beef prices will rise by 11%, pork by 17% and sheepmeat by 4% in real terms in the next ten years. Poultry will be the fastest growing meat sector with estimated growth of 2.2% per annum. 82% of the additional global meat consumption will be from developing countries. Per capita meat consumption will increase by 3.2kg per annum with poultry making up 70% of this number. The report also states that production costs will rise, there will be increasing resource constraints, and increased severe weather events and climate change. The report calls for policy changes to address productivity and sustainability, the closing of the production gap in developing countries, research and infrastructure improvements and calls on governments to create favorable business climates to spur both foreign and domestic private investments in agriculture.
