Mexico imported chicken leg and thigh cuts from the United States for a customs value of US$651 million from January to July 2022, a year-on-year rise of 14%, with a trend highlighted by Bachoco.
Globally, Mexico was the largest importer of these products in 2021, ahead of countries such as Italy, Poland and Germany.
While the record for Mexican imports of chicken leg and thigh cuts was in 2021, with US$998 million, these international purchases did not exceed US$700 million in each of the three previous years, from 2018 to 2020.
As of January 1, 2008, all tariff barriers between Mexico and the United States on chicken trade were eliminated.
This allows U.S. producers to export any quantity of chicken products (primarily leg and thigh cuts) duty-free to Mexico.
Mexico is the primary destination for U.S. chicken exports.
However, Bachoco claims that this development does impact the Mexican chicken market because neither the company itself, nor any other Mexican chicken producer, is yet able to export similar products to the United States from Mexico.
Bachoco’s U.S. subsidiary exports chicken products to several countries, Mexico and Guatemala, among others, and is therefore subject to the different regulations that apply in each of these countries.
Bachoco
According to the National Union of Poultry Farmers (UNA), Mexico is one of the 10 most important producers worldwide with an estimated production of 3,665 tons of chicken in 2021, with a per capita consumption of 33.5 kilograms in 2021, which is an increase of 1.2% compared to the per capita value in 2020.
Fresh chicken is the most popular meat product consumed in Mexico. According to UNA, more than 90% of chicken is sold fresh and only a smaller percentage is sold frozen, or value-added (marinated, breaded, partially or fully cooked, among others), these products have had limited acceptance in the Mexican poultry market, given the preference for fresh products.
Bachoco estimates that it is the leader in the Mexican poultry industry, with a 35% market share, and together with its closest competitor, we have a market share of approximately 60% in the marketing of chicken.
