International Hatchery Practice — Volume 18 Number 6 7

The changing face of theworld of duck production

by Dr Xinjian Yan, Cherry Valley Farms Ltd, Rothwell, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire LN7 6BJ, England.

Duck farming has a longhistory but the modernduck industry is a rela-

tively small one in most parts ofthe world.

However, the duck industry isvery dynamic and over the lastcouple of decades has beenthrough a period of rapid expan-sion. In some parts of the worldduck production has started tochallenge the consumption ofother types of poultry.

This article will look at howduck production has evolved,what its present status is and whatpossible future developments arein store.

This last point is very importantfor primary duck breeders likeCherry Valley as they have thechallenge of providing the genet-ics that are capable of satisfyingfuture needs.

Importance of China

Today, more than two thirds ofducks are produced in China andso it is inevitable that what hap-pens or does not happen in Chinawill have a profound impact onthe world of duck production.

This being the case, let us firstof all look at the recent develop-ment of duck production inglobal terms and in a Chinesecontext.

Table 1 shows how duck pro-

duction has evolved over the lasttwo decades. In this time globalannual production has risen from460 million ducks to over twobillion birds.

From this table and from Fig. 1we can se the importance of Asiain duck production.

Some 85% of global productionis in Asia and some 85% of this isconcentrated in China.

Today, China produces 75% ofthe world’s ducks, which is a sig-

nificant increase from the 50%produced by that country just acouple of decades ago.

Outside Asia the consumptionof duck is very much related tothe chinese population and,hence, the number of Chineserestaurants in a country.

Notable exceptions to this areFrance and North America.

Fig. 2 shows the changes inworld duck production over the

last two decades. Globally, pro-duction has increased in thisperiod by 435% and this growthhas been driven by China(675%). Growth in the rest of theworld is only 200%.

In many parts of the world duckis very much a minority poultryspecies. Some would argue thatthis is because duck is veryexpensive to produce.

Conversely, those in productionwould say that if the marketeerscould sell more duck, the cost ofproduction, and hence the priceof duck meat, would reduce.

Let us now reflect on what ishappening in China. Over the lasttwo decades the importance ofducks for meat production (ratherthan egg production) has come tothe fore (see Fig. 3).

Historically, China was thebirthplace of duck farming andthe Pekin (the old name for Beij-ing) is perhaps the most famousduck breed.

1980 1989 1995 2001World 462,916 713,695 1,381,656 2,014,674China 227,444 393,191 971,992 1,534,500France 24,000 44,134 65,900 82,000Thailand 42,667 56,700 64,000 70,000Vietnam 20,000 32,000 43,200 58,000Korea 1,100 3,000 13,000 24,000USA 16,875 21,718 19,528 23,000Malaysia 9,800 16,300 20,000 22,000Germany 9,444 14,400 18,700 21,100UK 7,300 10,975 13,000 20,500Myanmar 10,140 10,378 14,555 19,822Egypt 5,768 12,100 13,600 16,100Indonesia 10,539 11,110 23,780 15,170Hungary 14,100 15,900 9,000 14,000Bangladesh 15,000 12,100 13,900 13,000Philippines 2,400 5,570 9,000 11,000

Table 1. World duck production today (000s).

Table 2. Annual duck consumptionper capita in major duck consum-ing countries.

Hong Kong 2.5Singapore 2.5Taiwan 2.0France 1.3China 1.0Malaysia 0.9Thailand 0.7S. Korea 0.5Japan 0.5UK 0.4Germany 0.4Wold average 0.4World (exclusive of China) 0.1

nn . . . . . . Africa

nn . . . . . . Asia

nn . . . . . . Europe

nn . . . . . . North America

nn . . . . . . Oceania

nn . . . . . . South America

1980 2001

2,500,000

2,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

0

Year

1980 1983 1986 1989 1992

World

1995 1998 2001

Duc

ks (

000)

China

Rest of world

Continued on page 9

Fig. 1. World duck production by regions.

Fig. 2. Change in world duck production.

Fig. 3. The change in China’s duck production from 1980 to 2001.

Meat ducks

Egg layer/dualpurpose

International Hatchery Practice — Volume 18 Number 6

However, it was only in the late1980s that meat duck productionreally took off. Prior to then themajority of ducks were egg layersor dual purpose ducks. Modernduck production has a very shorthistory of only 20 years.

During this period of rapid ex-pansion, improved ‘Pekin’ duckbreeds, such as Cherry Valley,were introduced to China andthis played an important role inthe improvement of productionefficiency. From Fig. 4 it can beseen that today China produces abillion meat type ducks per year,which is a 5000% growth overthe last two decades.

Variety of systems

Production systems in China areextensive, in which the ducks areoutside the whole time, semi-intensive in which the ducks havepenned outdoor access and opensided housing, and intensive, inwhich the ducks are totally con-fined indoors.

Chinese duck production is alsorapidly becoming fully integrated.

Just 10 years ago in China anannual processing capacity abovetwo million ducks would havebeen considered a very big pro-

ducer. Today, several companiesprocess 60-100,000 ducks a dayand there are many companiesproducing 5-10 million ducks ayear. The integration process hasbeen accompanied by a movefrom extensive into intensive pro-duction.

Continued prosperity

As prosperity continues to growin China, duck consumption isexpected to follow suit becauseof the tradition of duck consump-tion in China, the improvementsin the efficiency of duck produc-tion and China’s unique marketsituation.

If we look at per capita con-sumption of duck meat it isapparent why there is scope forduck consumption to continue toincrease and it has the potentialto be four billion ducks by 2020,which is four times the currentproduction. In part this will occurbecause the relative price of theproduct will reduce.

The modern duck achieves3.2kg at 42 days or 3.5kg at 47days at respective FCRs of 1.9-2.0and 2.28 and the modern breederproduces 296 eggs (241 day olds)from a 50 week laying cycle.

In many senses China is a

9

Continued from page 7

Fig. 8. Comparison of total lean meat contents.

Fig. 4. Duck production by types in China from 1980 to 2001. Fig. 6. Comparison between Cherry Valley’s SM2 and SM3 final genera-tion products and two of its competitors in terms of FCR.

Fig. 5. On-going improvement in production efficiency. A reduction of 0.1unit in FRC since 2000.

1,200,000

1,000,000

800,000

600,000

400,000

200,000

0

Year

80 83 86 89 90 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01

Meat type ducks (1000)

Duc

k pr

oduc

tion

(1,

000)

Egg layers and dual purpose (1000)

2.8

2.6

2.4

2.2

2.0

50

48

46

44

42

40

38

Year

94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03

FCR

at

3.25

kg

Age

at

3.25

kg

FCR

Age

SM3

FCR

2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8

Competitor 1

Competitor 2

SM2 (I)

‘dream market’. It has a popula-tion that likes duck and an indus-try that can produce duck meatcompetitively! In addition, theduck has byproducts, such as itsfeet, tongue and heart, that canfetch prices equal to, or higherthan, those of the meat.

Looking to the future, duck pro-duction will benefit from ducksthat perform more efficiently atboth breeder and meat levels andan increasingly important portionmarket.

Fig. 5 shows how FCR and ageat 3.25kg has improved over thelast decade and over the last 10years Cherry Valley has reducedFCR by 0.4 units.

SM3

Lean meat (%)

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Competitor 1

Competitor 2

SM2 (I)

Fig. 6 shows the comparisonbetween Cherry Valley’s SM2 andSM3 final generation productsand two of its competitors interms of FCR.

Fig. 7 shows the improvementsachieved in breeders over thesame time base with an improve-

ment from 5.3 to 5.7 eggs perfemale per week.

When compared to competitorsthe SM2 and SM3 also showsuperior total lean meat content(Fig. 8). To some extent breastmeat is a byproduct of theChinese industry and so in Chinathis ‘byproduct’ is in an even bet-ter position to challenge othertypes of poultry! n

5.9

5.8

5.7

5.6

5.5

5.4

5.3

100

80

60

40

20

0

Year

95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02

Eggs

/f/w

eek

Hat

chab

ility

(%

)

Eggs

Hatchability

Fig. 7. Continuous improvement in breeding performance.