China gains relevance in global chicken trade, worrying other exporters
China’s growing chicken production is lifting the country to increasingly prominent positions in the global meat market. In 2027, China could become the world’s third-largest exporter of the product, surpassing the European Union. With prices lower than those of its competitors, Chinese chicken is already competing for customers with traditional exporters such as Brazil.
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Companies such as Branexx, a Lisbon-based meat trader, have turned to Chinese product to serve customers looking for cheaper meat. Branexx CEO Ezequiel Pires told Reuters his company began buying chicken from China in March, after African customers asked for more cost-effective alternatives to Brazilian chicken. According to Pires, Chinese chicken breast and leg quarters are 10% to 20% cheaper than Brazilian ones.
The Chinese government’s concern with food security has driven the country’s chicken output at a faster pace than domestic consumption. With the oversupply, the Chinese are reducing their imports, of which Brazil is the largest supplier, and expanding exports.
According to a report this month from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), China’s chicken production this year is expected to grow 9% and reach 18 million tonnes. Domestic chicken consumption, meanwhile, is expected to rise 7.2%, to 16.84 million tonnes this year.
For 2027, the trend should persist. The USDA estimates a 5.5% increase in Chinese production, to 19 million tonnes, and a 3.7% rise in Chinese consumption, to 17.475 million tonnes. The expansion in supply, according to the agency, is due to a “sufficient” breeding flock, relatively stable prices for corn and soybean meal, and investments in capacity.
The surplus output should allow China to increase exports next year by 25%, to 1.92 million tonnes. This year, the country is expected to export 1.54 million tonnes, up 42% from 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
If in 2025 China was the world’s fifth-largest chicken exporter, with 8% of the total, this year it could move into fourth place and, in 2027, reach third, surpassing the Europeans.
Competition from China is one of the challenges Brazil will have to face in 2027, as the USDA listed in a report last week. The agency said Brazilian exporters will need to offset the loss of sales to Europe because of rules controlling antimicrobials.
Wintop Food, of Shandong province, has been experiencing growing foreign demand. The company, which processes 60 million birds a year and sells breast meat, nuggets, and meatballs to more than 20 countries, earned half of its 2025 profit from exports, according to Reuters.
“International customers used to be wary of the quality,” Dang Yangyang, the company’s general manager, told the news agency in August. “But when the meat costs $1,000 less per tonne than that of Brazilian and Thai competitors, they have to buy from China or be left out.”
Data from consultancy Gira cited by Reuters show that China has doubled its share of the European Union’s processed poultry market to 10% since 2022 and tripled its presence in the United Kingdom, to more than 14%.
“It is very worrying,” Kukrit Arepagorn, a manager at the Thai Broiler Processing Exporters Association, told Reuters. “Customers are increasingly using the low prices of Chinese chicken as a benchmark for negotiation.”
