agricultural · input
Fertilized hatching eggs and day-old chicks from commercial parent flocks. Derived from a 2-company global genetics duopoly: Cobb-Vantress (Tyson subsidiary, ~50% global) and Aviagen (EW Group, ~40%). Great-grandparent lines are never sold commercially; genetic disruption has a 9–18 month multi-generation lag time to commercial supply.
6
Source countries
2
Companies
1
Goods affected
0
Claims on record
What depends on it
1 essential American goods rely on day-old broiler chick (genetics) somewhere upstream in their supply chain.
Where it comes from
Share of global supply, by country.
| Country | Share of supply |
|---|---|
| USUnited States | 45% |
| GBUnited Kingdom | 30% |
| FRFrance | 10% |
| BRBrazil | 8% |
| CNChina | 4% |
| NLNetherlands | 3% |
Who makes it
2 companies produce day-old broiler chick (genetics).
Broiler genetics company owned by Hendrix Genetics (Dutch) since 2022 acquisition from Tyson Foods (~$1B). Cobb 500 breed represents ~46-50% of all globally farmed broilers. Together with Aviagen/Ross, controls ~90% of global commercial broiler genetics.
Aviagen Group (Huntlywood, Midlothian, Scotland; wholly owned subsidiary of EW Group GmbH, Germany; formed by EW Group in 2002 from merger of Ross Breeders and Arbor Acres) is the world's largest broiler (chicken meat) genetics company — producing the Ross 308 and Ross 708 broiler breeds that together dominate global broiler production. Aviagen is noted here primarily because it is a co-subsidiary of EW Group alongside Hy-Line and Lohmann — meaning the same German family (Wesjohann/EW Group) controls dominant genetics for eggs (Hy-Line + Lohmann), chicken meat (Aviagen Ross), and turkey (British United Turkeys). Aviagen has limited layer operations (through its Lohmann sister company under EW Group). The combined EW Group poultry genetics portfolio — Hy-Line layers + Lohmann layers + Aviagen broilers — constitutes the most concentrated position in global food supply genetics in existence. No government has subjected EW Group's dual egg-and-meat genetics dominance to antitrust scrutiny.
