Thanks to the monthly average shipments of 377.3 thousand tonnes in the second half - the best performance of the last three years - the sector reduced accumulated losses in the first six months of 2018 (-13.4 percent in relation to the first half of 2017) and closed the year with a 5.1 percent decrease compared to the 4,320 million tons exported in 2017.

Part of this performance stems from the positive balance obtained by the sector in December. Confirming forecasts by ABPA, exports in the last month of 2018 reached 352.8 thousand tonnes, 9.9 percent more volume than the 321.1 thousand tons shipped in the same period of 2017.

Total exports in 2018 generated revenues of US$6.571 billion, 9.2 percent lower than the US$7.235 registered in the previous year. The good performance of sales in the month of December guaranteed a rise of 11.3 percent for the period, with a balance of US$581.4 million - against US$522.5 million in December 2017.

"It is expected that the good flow achieved in the second half of last year will continue in 2019. This is due, among other reasons, to the actions that the productive sector, led by ABPA, will adopt through Project 500K, which aims to achieve the monthly average of 500 thousand tonnes in the total exports of poultry and pork until the end of 2020," said Francisco Turra, president of ABPA.