China becomes a net chicken exporter as purchases from Brazil fall 48%

A commentary in the Economic Daily on November 3 records a reversal in China’s chicken trade. From 2019 to 2024 the country was a net importer: the deficit was US$470 million in 2019 and reached US$2.44 billion in 2023, after African swine fever slashed pork output. In 2025 China again exported more than it imported, and in the first three quarters of 2026 the surplus held and widened, the paper says.

Full-year 2025 figures, compiled by trade publication Modern Animal Husbandry from customs data, show exports of 1.0849 million tonnes (+50.71%) to 97 countries and regions. Breast meat accounted for 676,100 tonnes, 62.33% of the total. Japan (201,500 t) and Hong Kong (194,400 t) were the top destinations; Russia bought 114,700 t (+54.8%). Brazilian data (ABPA, via G1) put China's 2025 purchases of Brazilian chicken at 250,250 t (−55.49%); Chinese customs record 291,600 t (−47.79%).

In the same year, imports fell 30.06% to 679,100 tonnes. Purchases of Brazilian chicken dropped 47.79% to 291,600 tonnes after China suspended Brazilian poultry imports in the second half because of avian influenza. The Economic Daily credits the reversal to three approved domestic white-feather broiler breeds, which cut dependence on imported grandparent stock, and to gains in scale and cost.

The paper notes China still runs an overall farm trade deficit: from January to September 2026 it exported US$80.9 billion and imported US$171.46 billion, a gap of US$90.56 billion.

CSP take: for Brazil, the risk is not only losing share inside China but meeting Chinese chicken in third markets in Asia. Brazilian exporters and buyers of processed chicken should track Chinese plants’ prices and certifications. This reading is ours, not the sources’.