Brazil’s Record Chicken Exports Prove Resilience After A Bird Flu Shock

Key Points

• Brazil exported 5.324 million metric tons of chicken meat in 2025, up 0.6% and a new record despite a commercial-farm avian flu case.
• Export revenue fell 1.4% to $9.79 billion, signaling lower average prices even as volumes rose.
• China’s long suspension reshuffled buyers, but late reopenings helped Brazil finish strongly and improve the 2026 outlook.

Brazil posted record chicken exports in 2025 even as the country confronted its first outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza at a commercial poultry farm.

Industry group ABPA said shipments reached 5.324 million tons, with December exports of 510,800 tons up 13.9% from a year earlier as trade flows normalized after months of sanitary restrictions.

The disruption began in mid-May, when authorities confirmed H5N1 at a commercial operation in Montenegro, Rio Grande do Sul.

Several importers imposed barriers, and China—normally among Brazil’s biggest outlets—kept purchases largely suspended for much of the year.

Brazil’s response paired rapid containment with a push for “regionalized” restrictions, arguing that only affected areas should be blocked rather than the entire country. With no additional commercial-farm outbreaks reported and controls maintained, key markets reopened.

ABPA pointed to late-year signals: exports to the European Union rose 52% year on year in December, and China, once the suspension was lifted, quickly imported 21,200 tons in a short window.

Brazil poultry exports hit record

The record came with softer pricing. Export revenue slipped to $9.79 billion from $9.928 billion in 2024. On rough averages, that implies about $1,839 per ton in 2025 versus about $1,876 in 2024, reflecting weaker prices and product-mix shifts during the stop-start demand of the embargo period.

Demand also shifted across destinations. The United Arab Emirates led 2025 purchases with 479,900 tons (+5.5%), followed by Japan with 402,900 (-0.9%), Saudi Arabia with 397,200 (+7.1%), South Africa with 336,000 (+3.3%), and the Philippines with 264,200 (+12.5%).

China’s absence for much of the year cost it the top ranking, even as it returned late. For 2026, ABPA says the reopening trend supports a “positive scenario.”

The broader takeaway is that Brazil remains a global swing supplier of affordable protein, able to absorb a health shock without losing export momentum.

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