When the matter is chicken exports, there are no competitors, reports the Arab-Brazil news agency. Mainly to the Arabs, the main buyers on the foreign market, responsible for 30 per cent of all that is traded abroad. From January to July this year, Paraná sold 477,000 tonnes of chicken on the international market, against 476,000 tonnes sold by the state that comes in the second place, Santa Catarina.

This information was supplied by the Brazilian Poultry Exporters Association (Abef), which added that revenues of entrepreneurs from the state of Paraná totalled US$780.5 million in the first half of 2010, a result 0.71 per cent greater than that in the same period last year.

How did the state climb to the highest post among Brazilian producers and exporters of chicken?

Abef president, Francisco Turra, said: "Paraná has modernised its poultry farming. That is not to mention the strength of local cooperatives: Paraná has the largest number of agricultural cooperatives in Brazil."

He added that the country ended 2009 with total production of 11 million tonnes of chicken, with revenues of US$14 billion and exports of US$5.9 billion. In 2010, the target is to expand production by three to five per cent.

Mr Turra added: "We need revenues 15 per cent greater than last year to overcome the losses we had with the global crisis in 2009."

To the president of the Union of Poultry Product Industries of the State of Paraná, Domingos Martins, products from the state of Paraná will be important for the country to advance further in the sector up to December.

He said: "Here, the growth of production is at a Chinese rhythm. We have 370,000 small properties turned to agricultural production and great investment in genetics and poultry feeding."

Mr Martins added that 30 per cent of state production is exported. The Arabs are the main buyers, with Saudi Arabia and the Emirates in first and second place, respectively.

The joy is no smaller among companies. Meat packing plant Canção, in Maringá 436 kilometres away from state capital Curitiba, exports around 2,000 tonnes of chicken each month, in the face of monthly production of 8,000 tonnes. Sales are mainly to the Arabs, who have been clients since 2006. The company offers halal slaughter, which certifies that the process was developed within the norms of the Islamic religion, a fundamental condition for sale on the Muslim market.

Among the countries that purchase the majority of the Canção production are the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq and Lebanon.

"They are very interesting markets," explained the manager at the plant, Eremir Trevizale Júnior. "Iraq has been growing significantly after the war and Bahrain and Qatar have been expanding significantly due to tourism. Consumption is growing constantly. It is no surprise that we travel to the Middle East two or three times a year to participate in fairs and visit clients."

At Cevale, from Palotina, a city 600 kilometres away from Curitiba, the Arab nations currently answer to seven per cent of the 8,000 tonnes of chicken exported every month (with production of 15,000 tonnes a month). The company, which also works with halal slaughter, wants to expand this percentage.

Manager of the Industrial Division at Cevale, Remi Eduardo Girardi, said: "We must grow on these markets. That is why we want to participate in more fairs and seek partners in the Middle East."