China's consumption of white broiler chicken will grow with increasing volumes directed toward the manufacturing of pre-prepared food, according to a recent US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report.

White broiler chicken is a major ingredient in pre-prepared meals due to its low cost and flavour adaptability which is becoming increasingly important.

Mid-and-low-income consumers tend to shift to lower-end restaurants such as fast-food restaurants and lower-end chain restaurants. Fast-food restaurants and lower-end chain restaurants normally use pre-prepared food to speed up service and deliver a uniform taste across the same brand. For similar reasons, many lower-end on-line take-out restaurants also use prepared-food to guarantee on time delivery.

Realising this trend, there are an increasing number of large-scale chicken processors setting up production lines or planning to install production lines for pre-prepared food manufacturing with chicken as a main ingredient.

Another emerging trend is ready-to-eat chicken for fitness-minded consumers. This sector currently is small but growing rapidly with the growing fitness population. White-broiler chicken is often used in this kind of products as it is lower-cost and contains lower fat than yellow broiler chicken. In several applications, white broiler chicken breast may be cooked and ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat as a vacuum-packed sales item that consumer may eat directly or shred for placing on salads, in sandwiches, or eaten
directly with other goods. Except in the two above-mentioned sub-sectors, Post does not expect white
broiler consumption in the rest of the HRI businesses, cafeterias or at-home dining to grow significantly
in 2025.