Chicken Industry

Brazil hits poultry export record

FairPlay noted last week that Brazil was on the way to record poultry export total for 2023. Well, it’s happened – Brazil officially exported 5.14 million tonnes of poultry between January and December last year.

WattPoultry reports that this is the first time Brazil’s poultry exports have exceeded 5 million tonnes.

Brazil is the world’s second largest poultry producer after the United States, but exports more poultry than any other country.

The 2023 export total was a 6.6% increase on the 4.8 million tonnes exported in 2022. The increase was attributed to opening of new markets as well as increasing sales to existing clients.

The publication noted that, although Brazil had reported bird flu in wild birds, it had managed to avoid the export bans which would have happened had the virus spread to commercial poultry flocks.

“While the avian flu virus spread all over South America like wildfire, it finally landed in Brazilian territory this past year for the first time in recorded history. Many were expecting a catastrophe in world chicken trade, as it has happened in other countries. But it didn’t. The virus stayed ‘confined ‘ in wild birds and did not cross the border to the poultry industry.”

When bird flu was detected in wild birds in Parana, the state responsible for more than 40% of Brazil’s poultry exports, the authorities moved fast, “even forbidding circulation of commercial birds in coastal regions, where affected wild birds were detected,” WattPoultry said.

Japan was the main Brazilian chicken exports destination, followed by China, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. In the Americas, Mexico was its largest importer.