Hubbard becomes 2nd largest broiler breeder in UK

This success, according to the company, follows Hubbard's strategy set out many years ago. The UK is the largest broiler breeder market in Europe, and for a long time it has been dominated by 2 UK-based primary breeders. But this has all been changed now through Hubbard's focus on product needs, product development and the investments made by starting up their own production facilities in the UK.

“For more than 13 years we have been in contact with the main producers and retailers in the UK to understand their specific needs and the trends and developments in the industry. The UK is a very important market to us, as they really are the leaders in product development and they are always at the forefront of protecting animal welfare,” says Director Global Marketing Paul van Boekholt.

Hubbard has been directly involved in the development of the alternative broiler markets, such as organic, free-range and more recently the Freedom Food-standards. “With our large range of speciality breeds, we cover the whole range from organic to Freedom Food. Through the range of Hubbard Color PS females and the large range of Hubbard PS males, our customers can make their own combination to suit their specific needs best,” says Jim Hunnable, Manager of Sales and Business Development.

“The recent television coverage has accelerated the growth of the speciality chicken market, but of course Hubbard will never ignore the standard broiler market. Our conventional broiler, the Hubbard Flex, has already entered the UK market about 4 years ago and it has proven to give our customers enormous advantages in animal welfare traits such as active behaviour, very low levels of hock burn and footpad lesions in combination with very competitive technical results in the field and the processing plant,” continues Hunnable.