January 25, 2008

Brazil to rival with US in China's poultry market

Brazil intends to compete head to head with the US in the poultry market of China this year, with an estimated export of 150,000 tonnes.

Last year, Brazil exported to China, by way of Hong Kong, 357,000 tonnes, said Christian Lohbauer, president of Brazilian Chicken Producers and Exporters Association (ABEF).

Brazil has 24 plants ready to export poultry to China as of the moment Another key market that Brazil and the US are competing for is Russia which has annual imports of 1 million tonnes. Brazil ships around 200,000 tonnes while the US sends roughly 600,000 tonnes to Russia.

In 2007, Brazil exported 3.3 million tonnes of poultry, rising 21 percent over 2.7 million tonnes on-year. In value, the country generated around US$4.9 billion on its poultry exports, 55 percent above that of 2006.

The country estimates 8.6 percent growth to 3.6 million tonnes in volume and 8.1 percent to US$5.4 billion in revenue this year.