Brazilian chicken meat exports were down by 8.5% in the January-May 2018 period compared to year-earlier levels, totaling 1.601 million tons, according to data compiled by the Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA).
In revenue, chicken meat sales were 12.3% lower in the mentioned period compared to the first five months of 2017, down to $2.602 billion.
Just in May, the decrease in volume of chicken meat exports was 4.7%, down to 333.2 thousand tons. Meanwhile, in revenue, sales for the fifth month of 2018 reached $ 517.6 million, down 13% from the previous year’s 594.8 million.
The most significant growth was reported in the shipments to Mexico between January and May, where Brazil exported 44,800 tons of chicken meat, 100% more than in the previous year.
Another market with a significant growth is China. Increasing its imports by 12%, the shipments that reached the Chinese market were 179,9 thousand tons between January and May of this year.
Francisco Turra, president of ABPA, explained that Brazil’s exports of chicken meat have been affected significantly by the truck drivers’ strike that began on 21 May, which caused a shortage of food, medicines and oil at a nationwide level.
