President of the Brazilian Association of Chicken Producers and Exporters (Abef), Francisco Turra says that while chicken production in China has been flat, Brazil's industry has been able to expand its activities to meet both domestic and external demand. The reason, he explains, is that Brazil is more competitive than other countries at a time of high corn prices.

China will produce 12 million tonnes of chicken meat per year, he predicts, while he thinks Brazil could end the year with production of 12.5 million tonnes.

Mr Turra explained that Brazil actually has a surplus of maize, unlike most other countries, and that it will have up to 10 million tonnes for export this year.

As well as strong domestic consumption, the Brazilian industry expects to export around an extra 800,000 tonnes of poultry meat this year compared to 2007.

This would bring total annual exports to nearly 4 million tonnes, and generate US$6.5 billion in revenue - up $1.5 billion from last year.