January 23, 2007

Brazil's whole chicken exports down but processed chicken up

Brazil's revenue from chicken meat exports fell to US$3.2 billion in 2006, down 8.7 percent on-year, data of Brazilian poultry federation Uniao Brasileira de Avicultura (UBA) showed.

The country's exports from whole chicken totalled US$937 million, down 13.83 percent, while the chicken cuts exports generated US$1.986 billion, down 11.23 percent.

Meanwhile, the country's processed chicken meat exports reached US$280.8 million, up 52 percent.

In terms of volume, Brazilian chicken exports totalled some 2.713 million tonnes in 2006, down 4.67 percent.

The results were slightly better than the 10-percent decline expected in the beginning of 2006 due to lower demand in Europe and Asia as bird flu broke out.