January 11, 2012

Brazil's 2011 revenues from poultry exports rose by 19.7% as compared with last year.

Last year, the country exported the equivalent of US$8.85 billion in poultry products, an all-time high. In terms of volume, 4.118 million tonnes were shipped, 2.3% more than in 2010. The figures were announced by the Brazilian Poultry Union (Ubabef) this Monday (Jan 9). The growth in exports was driven by chicken, whose sales increased by an even higher rate than the general industry. Chicken exports increased by 21.2% in revenues (US$8.253 billion) and 3.2% in volume (3.942 million tonnes) as against 2010. The price of chicken was the main contributing factor to the different between the increases in revenues and volume. The average chicken export price last year was US$2,093 per tonne, 17.4% more than in the preceding year.

"The behaviour of the dollar was challenging for the industry last year," said Ubabef president Francisco Turra. "When the dollar was low [relative to the Brazilian currency, the real], we had to struggle to raise prices in dollars. Then the currency went down, and we had to struggle to lower prices in dollars," he said. Despite the increase in exports, Turra said the industry was excited about the domestic market.

In 2011, per capita chicken consumption in Brazil averaged at 47.4 kilogrammes, 7.48% more than in 2010. "The domestic market remains our leading market," he said. Sure enough, the domestic market accounted for 69.8% of chicken production in 2011, whereas 30.2% was exported. Egg exports decreased in both revenues and volume. Brazilian egg exports dropped by 31% (US$28.2 million) in terms of revenues and by 40% (16,600 tonnes) in terms of volume compared with 2010.