The year 2022 was favorable for Brazilian exports of chicken meat and products, reaching a total of 4,822,384 tons, an increase of 4.61% compared to 2021. The most relevant was the increase in the value of these exports by 27.39% (9.762 billion USD). Thanks to better average rates obtained, which grew from $1,662 per minute in 2021 to $2,024 per minute in the year just ended.
Details of the composition of Brazilian chicken exports can be found in the first table.
First schedule
¹ and ² *Includes stuffed chicken products such as hot dogs, sausage, ham, mortadella, etc. Excludes ship handling operations (supply to ships and aircraft totaling 5,768 kg and $10,843 in 2022.
In Table 2 we can note the percentage evolution of each of the categories. Whole chicken saw the largest development in average prices, which was the only product category to suffer a volume decline, resulting in a gradual decline in imports from Saudi Arabia partially offset by the position the UAE now occupies as the second largest recipient of Brazilian chicken from terms of volume.
Table 2 – % development by categories from 2022 to 2021
I usually start my training for corporate executives with a presentation titled “Things Change,” which concludes with the hard and timeless truth: “Things will change more and more, and faster.” The whole chicken that replaced the live chicken is now being replaced by chicken parts and these will be on their own in the presentations that the consumer will be able to prepare as long as they know how to operate the oven. Soon, the whole chicken will continue to decline, even if protective ills help it.
Table 3 shows the incremental progression of chicken nuggets, and the first graph summarizes the percentage of each product category in total Brazilian exports in 2021 and 2022.
Table III – Percentage by categories of total exports in 2021 and 2022
Graph 1 – Evolution in % of Brazilian chicken exports in 2022 compared to 2021
The second and third graphs show the destination of Brazilian exports by world region, led by Asia in terms of volume and value and followed by the Middle East region. In the statistics released by international organizations, the countries of the Middle East are classified as part of Asia, which will increase the importance of this region not only for chicken exports, but as a major destination for all Brazilian agribusiness exports.
The second graph – the volume of exports The third graph – the value of exports
Of the 169 countries that imported chicken meat and chicken products, values range from almost none ($10.00 – shipment of samples for sure) to $1.35 billion (14.1% of total export value) bought by Planet China, followed by $961 million from Japan, and $952 million from the United Arab Emirates, and $844 million from Saudi Arabia, which has reduced purchases of whole chickens, but is still one of the largest importers of chicken meat and chicken products.
The fourth and fifth Pareto charts that follow the fifteen largest importers by volume and value, I confess I had to resist the temptation to publish the full list of importing countries, on the advice of an editor of a journal specializing in agribusiness, which had already published some of my articles, and which said that synthesis It represents a greater number of readers.
Graph IV – Brazil – Export volume of chicken meat and meat products
Graph V – Brazil – Export Value of Chicken Meat and Meat Products (FOB Thousands of US Dollars) – 2022
Note in these graphs that only two European countries are included in the top fifteen importers of chicken meat and poultry products, namely the Netherlands (3.5% of volume and 4.9% of value) and the post-Brexit UK (2% of volume and 3.0). % of value)
Even at the risk of being too much, I will list in charts VI and VII the top fifteen importers of whole chicken, which, as shown in Table 3 above, account for 20% of our total chicken meat exports.
Chart VI – Pareto – Brazil – Whole chicken exports volume
Chart VII – Pareto – Brazil – Value of whole chicken exports (in thousands of US dollars) -2022
It is interesting to note the sharp decline in Saudi imports of whole chickens (see graph VII), which was also less severe in chicken parts, which explains the decline of that country to fourth place as a destination for Brazilian chicken.
Figure 8 – Exporting a Whole Chicken p. Saudi Arabia (kilotons) Diagram 9 – Export of chicken nuggets p. Saudi Arabia (kt
Chicken nuggets or pieces dominate consumption in most countries, and this translates into Brazil’s sales abroad, which account for just under 70% (see Table III) of total chicken meat exports. In the eighth chart, we have listed the fifteen main importers of this category of products in tons. Note that of these fifteen, seven are in Asia, four are in the Middle East, two are in Latin America, and two are in Africa.
Graph X- Pareto – Brazil – Export volume of chicken nuggets or chops
As for the value of chicken parts exports, the fifteen major importers account for 80.2% of the total exports, six of them are in Asia, five are in the Middle East, two are in the Americas and one is in Africa.
Chart Eleven – Pareto – Brazil – Export value of chicken nuggets (in thousands of US dollars) -2022
Note that in the product categories offered so far (whole chicken and parts) there are no European countries. It completely dominates the salted meat category, led by the Netherlands, which once again confirms its status as a platform for European international trade. Together with the United Kingdom and Germany, these three countries account for 96.4% of the volume of salted chicken meat (see chart X) and 88.9% of the value exported in this category.
Chart XII – Pareto – Brazil – 11 Major Importers of Cured Chicken Meat Volume
Chart 13 – PARETO – BRAZIL – 11 MAJOR IMPORTERS VALUE OF SALTED CHICKEN (US$ THOUSANDS) -2022
Five European countries are among the main Brazilian customers for industrial chicken meat products, three are from South America, the same number are from the Middle East, two are from Africa and two are from Asia. It is interesting to note that Great Britain and the Netherlands are the destination for approximately 60% of the volume and 66% of the value of Brazilian foreign sales of industrial products.
Graph 14- Brazil – Fifteen Major Importers of Processed Chicken Products – Volume (kt)
Graph XV- Brazil – Fifteen Major Importers of Processed Chicken Products – Value (in Thousands of US Dollars)
Soon, 2022 will be a good year for Brazilian chicken exports, and the country has cemented its position as the world’s second largest producer and number one exporter of chicken meat. For 2023, projections from various international sources indicate that Brazilian export growth is between a minimum of 2.7% and a maximum of 6%. I will support the Latin principle “virtue in the mean” (virtue in between).
I have pointed out on several occasions that Brazil is a global agro-trading power located in a country of little international relevance against which it is possible to exercise brazen protectionism while ensuring that there is no way to retaliate against this country. And desserts in international politics are always for those who don’t act who can throw stones, especially in their current atomic version.
However, in 2022, the country exported chicken meat to 169 countries, and closing the doors of these markets had severe effects on international prices and supplies, as Brazil accounts for more than 30% of global exports of meat and chicken products.
This does not absolve this country of great concern and concern about the outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, which are widespread in the world and which have reached neighboring countries in South America, six of which border Brazil (Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Uruguay).
Care has been renewed, and our association, ABPA (Associação Brasileira da Proteína Animal) has mobilized the sector and Brazilian poultry science to increase levels of prevention, care and biosafety. There are many conferences organized by different scientific entities on biosafety, highly pathogenic avian influenza and advances in epidemic prevention and containment.
However, the risks of the disease reaching Brazil are high. Protectionists, especially the selective Alzheimer’s-stricken European Union, will forget their set of rings, and will wave in horror the warning flags claiming that Brazil is the root of all evil. We’ve already learned from their energetic matrix that the secular principle “do as I say, not as I do” remains forever fresh.
However, many countries will not risk their supplies being compromised and will adopt the protection measures recommended scientifically, but will maintain the flow of purchases from Brazilian regions and compartments unaffected by the disease. We have reasons to be concerned, but if we have an advantage in the agribusiness of this rich, poor country, it is that we are resilient.
In January 2023, total Brazilian chicken meat exports (considering all products, both natural and processed) amounted to 420.9 thousand tons, according to the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA). The figure is a record for the month and exceeds by 20.6% the total exports in the first month of 2022, reaching 349.1 thousand tons. The dollar result for exports for the month was $856.6 million, up 38.9% over the same period of the year.
However, we do not face the forecast for 2023 with peace of mind, as the entire history of HPAI outbreaks shows that the spread of the disease to neighboring countries inevitably occurs. We hope we are wrong, but the facts and data indicate that this statement is more of a wish than a reality.
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