The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s newly released “Poultry -- Production & Value 2016 Summary” showed that the combined value of production from broilers, eggs and turkeys and the value of sales from chickens in 2016 was $38.7 billion, down 20% from $48.1 billion in 2015. Of the combined total, 67% were from broilers, 17% from eggs, 16% from turkeys and less than 1% from chickens.

USDA reported that the value of broilers produced during 2016 was $25.9 billion, down 10% from 2015. The total number of broilers produced in 2016 was 8.78 billion, up 1% from 2015. The total live weight of broilers produced in 2016 was 54.3 billion lb., up 2% from 2015.

The value of turkeys produced rose 8% from 2015 to $6.18 billion during 2016. The total number of turkeys raised in 2016 was 244 million, up 5% from 2015, USDA noted. Turkey production in 2016 totaled 7.49 billion lb., up 6% from the 7.04 billion lb. produced in 2015.

USDA reported that the value of sales from chickens (excluding broilers) in 2016 was $84.9 million, down 18% from $103 million a year ago. The number of chickens sold in 2016 totaled 206 million, up 5% from the total sold during the previous year.

The value of all egg production fell significantly in 2016 to $6.48 billion, down 52% from $13.6 billion in 2015. Despite the decline in value, egg production increased 5% -- from 97.2 billion eggs in 2015 to 102 billion eggs in 2016.