Brazilian foreign sales in the first four months of 2010 grew by 18% in comparison with the same period of last year, according to the Brazil-Arab News Agency. Shipments totalled 1.15 million tonnes.

Brazil's chicken meat exports totalled US$ 1.9 billion in the first four months of the year, representing growth of 18 per cent compared with the same period of last year. A total of 1.158 million tonnes of the product were shipped, a decline of 1.43 per cent using the same basis of comparison. The data were disclosed by the Brazilian Poultry Union (Ubabef) earlier this week.

According to a release from Ubabef, the result points to a recovery of prices, which were low, and reflects the appreciation of the United States dollar. Comparing the period from January until April with the preceding four-month period (September until December 2009), both revenues and volume have dropped, by 3.6 per cent and 4.2 per cent, respectively.

The president of the Ubabef, Francisco Turra, commented: "This is an effect of the crisis in European countries, and a noteworthy fact is that Brazilian poultry exports to the European Union have dropped by 15 per cent in the first four months of the year."

Middle Eastern countries were the leading destination of the Brazilian product from January to April, with US$661.3 million in exports, representing growth of 26.7 per cent. Shipments totalled 426,300 tonnes, or 1.2 per cent more than in the first quarter of 2009.

The second main destination was Asia, with 316,200 tonnes shipped and US$580 million in revenues. Next came the European Union, with US$363.4 million in exports. Brazil sold US$162 million to Africa and US$139.6 million to the Americas.