Brazil ranks second in the world in chicken meat production and Mexico is its ninth largest export destination for this product.

Second only to the United States (21 million tons), Brazil produced 14.8 million tons of chicken meat in 2023.

Poultry meat market

Of this amount, Brazil exported 5.1 million tons of this product.

In particular, shipments to Mexico amounted to 173,321 tons, an increase of 23.5% year-on-year, according to data from the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA).

Mexico is a relevant destination for Brazilian exports in this industry, due to its deficit balance, its relative proximity and its interest in diversifying its foreign supply, concentrated in the United States.

Chicken meat production

Brazil’s advantages in this industry include its large production capacity, open international markets and high sanitary standards.

Here is the trend in Brazil’s chicken meat production, in thousands of tons:

• 2018:12,855.
• 2019: 13,245.
• 2020: 13,845.
• 2021: 14,329.
• 2022: 14,524.
• 2023: 14,833.

Mexican market

Chicken meat is the most widely consumed meat in Mexico, both because of its lower price and because it is part of a wide variety of traditional dishes, such as sopes, mole poblano, enchiladas, tinga and tortilla soup. 

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture (Sader), Mexico produced 3 million 888,000 tons of chicken meat in 2023, an increase of 2.8% over 2022.

At the same time, its imports of this product were 989,605 tons, a volume 11.4% higher compared to 2022.

Mexico has imported chicken meat from Brazil through unilateral quotas or reduced tariffs, also unilaterally. This has been done in order to control inflation in the country.

 At the end of August, a delegation of Brazilian officials, led by the Secretary of International Relations of the Ministry of Agriculture, Roberto Serroni Perosa, and the Secretary of Agricultural Defense, Carlos Goulart, met with Mexican authorities in Mexico City. One of Brazil’s objectives was to achieve a permanent opening of the Mexican market for chicken meat.