April 12, 2007

 

Brazil's March chicken exports rise 35 percent on-year

 

 

Brazil's March chicken exports rose 35 percent on the year to 303,465 tonnes, the Brazilian Chicken Exporters Association (ABEF) said Wednesday (Apr 11).

 

Brazil shipped 169,028 tonnes of chicken cutlets in March, up 22 percent from the year-ago period. In the first three months of the year, Brazil has shipped 423,321 tonnes of chicken cutlets, up 7.4 percent.

 

Whole bird shipments for March were 115,991 tonnes, up 56 percent on the year. For the first three months, whole chicken exports were 273,830 tonnes, or 27 percent more than the same three-month period in 2006.

 

March exports of processed chicken hit 18,446 tonnes, up 51 percent on the year. For the first three months of the year, Brazil sold 47,578 tonnes worldwide, up 70 percent from the same period a year ago.

 

Over the last three months, the Middle East remained Brazil's top chicken market, with 233,693 tonnes shipped, an increase of 44 percent from 2006. Next was the Asian market, which imported 192,140 tonnes of total chicken from January to March, down 1.6 percent from 2006 volumes.

 

The European Union is Brazil's third largest chicken market in the first three months of this year, importing 151,988 tonnes, up 24.6 percent from 2006 volumes.

 

ABEF maintains its 2007 chicken export outlook at 2.85 million tonnes, up 5 percent from the year before.

 

ABEF's president, Ricardo Goncalves, said that federal food monitors at ports are threatening to go on strike in May. The last time they went on strike, 50,000 tonnes of chicken exports were backed up at the ports for a month.

 

Brazil is the world's leading chicken exporter.