1. Chinese Poultry Meat Production and the Marketed and Population at Hand had a Stable Growth. According to sector statistics of 30 provinces (except Tibet), chicken production in China had a stable growth in 2003. Due to the fact the statistics of chicken is in the statistics of poultry meat, not itemized individually, according to historical data, the proportion of chicken in poultry meat production is about 70%, it is calculated that the national chicken meat production during the period from Jan. to Sept. was 7.778 million tons, an increase of 5.3% as compared with that of the same period of the previous year, the ranking of the first 3 provinces are Shandong, Sichuan and Guangdong. It is forecasted that during the period from Jan. to Sept., the production of chicken meat was 9.24 million ton in 2003, an increase of .56% as compared with that of the previous year, accounting for 13.5% of total meat production (68.5 million tons). According to incomplete statistics, the

2. The cost of broiler husbandry has increased while economic benefit drops but some profit to gain. The corn output decreased in China in 2003, while export of corn had increase by a big margin. Therefore, the price of corn had increased by a big margin. During the period from Jan. to Nov., the retail price of corn was 1.1 RMB per kg, an increase of 4.7% as compared with that of the same period of previous year. The rise of corn price had increased the cost of chicken husbandry. During the period from Jan. to Nov., 2003, the price ratio of chicken and grain was 7.8:1, while the price ratio of chicken and feed was 4.8:1, a drop of 6.9% and 2.8% as compared with those during the same period of the previous year, respectively. The husbandry benefit was lower that the previous year. However, the price ratio of chicken and grain and the price ratio of chicken and feed are both above the profit point, the husbandry of broiler can still gain profit, gaining 1-2 RMB per bird.