Claudia Marques, a partner at MPA Trade Law who represents the exporters, said in an telephone interview that China's Ministry of Commerce will now formally have to say whether it accepts the terms proposed at an undefined date.

Known in trade circles as the "price undertaking" mechanism, the proposal, which the attorney says complies with global trade rules, obliges individual exporters to keep prices at a minimum, pre-defined level.

"Under the price undertaking mechanism, the exporter commits to sell to China at prices not lower than what was agreed," Marques said.

The WTO defines the price undertaking as the effort "to raise the export price of the product to avoid the possibility of an anti-dumping duty."

The anti-dumping deposits on Brazil's chicken exports into China range from 18 percent to 38 percent, Marques said.

The duties were imposed in June after China initiated an anti-dumping investigation of Brazilian exporters in August 2017.

ABPA said earlier in December that talks to conclude an agreement between Brazil and China were at an advanced stage after a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit of leading industrialised economies in Argentina.

China is Brazil's second biggest destination for chicken exports, representing nearly 11 percent of the total sold out of Brazil, according to ABPA data.

The industry group estimates Brazilian chicken exports to China will rise by around 10 percent in 2018 from a year earlier.

The timeline for the conclusion of the entire process at China's Ministry of Commerce ends in February, Marques said without providing an exact date.

Reporting by Ana Mano; editing by Chizu Nomiyama and G Crosse