Brazilian chicken meat exports reach record high in 2025

Brazilian chicken meat exports reached a record 5.324 million tonnes in 2025, representing a slight increase of 0.6% over 2024, according to the Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA), despite temporary embargoes from some countries on the product due to the outbreak of avian flu in May of last year. In 2024, exports totaled 5.294 million tonnes.

Revenue from exports, however, fell 1.4% year-on-year, to $9.790 billion.

The now contained avian flu outbreak at a commercial farm in Montenegro, Rio Grande do Sul, was classified by ABPA as “one of the biggest challenges in the history of national poultry farming” and caused the temporary closure of more than 100 markets for Brazilian chicken meat, including the European Union and China, the two main destinations.

The EU and China closed their markets for four and six months, respectively, generating an expectation, at the time, that the suspensions would lead to a drop of up to 2% in exports in 2025. These expectations did not materialize, which was celebrated by the sector.

“Closing the year with positive results, as predicted by ABPA, is an achievement to be celebrated and reinforces the projected outlook for 2026, expanding the Brazilian presence in the global market, in line with the sector’s expected production for the year,” said ABPA’s president, Ricardo Santin, in a statement.

According to Santin, the resumption of shipments to previously closed destinations has already been reflected in the sector’s most recent figures. When considering only the month of December 2025, chicken exports increased by 13.9% in volume compared with the same period in 2024, totaling 510,800 tonnes. Revenue increased by 10.6% year-on-year, to $947.9 million.

“This is the case with shipments to the European Union, which recorded a 52% increase in export volumes in December, and to China, which, in a short period, has already imported 21,200 tonnes. These are indicators that project the maintenance of a positive scenario for the year 2026,” Santin highlighted.

In the results by country, the United Arab Emirates emerged as the main destination for Brazilian chicken meat with 479,900 tonnes acquired last year, a volume 5.5% higher than that recorded in 2024.

Japan was the second main destination for the product, with 402,900 tonnes, a decrease of 0.9%, followed by Saudi Arabia, with 397,200 tonnes, an increase of 7.1%. South Africa imported 336,000 tonnes, 3.3% more than in 2024, and the Philippines imported 264,200 tonnes, an increase of 12.5%.

Currently, poultry farming accounts for approximately 30% of Brazilian agribusiness exports related to animal protein.

Source: Valor International

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