Domestic chicken meat prices dropped significantly in Brazil in 2023 due to record production, according to a recent market report from CEPEA.

Not even the good pace of exports, which hit a historical record for the third year in a row, was able to limit price decreases.

Chicken meat competitiveness compared to beef reduced in 2023, due to the higher volume of bovine animals slaughtered and the increase of beef supply. According to data from IBGE, from January to September 2023, 24.64 million bovine animals were slaughtered in Brazil, moving up 11.4% compared to the same period in 2022 and the highest volume since 2014.

As for chicken, 4.75 billion animals were slaughtered from January to September, 4.6% more in relation to the same period last year and a record of the historical series of IBGE, which started in 1997.

The lowest price gap between prices of these two meats was registered in September, when chicken meat (whole, chilled) traded in the Greater of São Paulo was 8.83 Reais per kilo below beef carcass. It is also the lowest price gap since October 2019.

The most significant price drops for chicken meat were registered in July. Chicken meat prices traded in the wholesale market of the Greater São Paulo averaged BRL 5.64/kg, the lowest value since June/20. From January to December, the price average was BRL 6.69/kg, downing 13% compared to that in the same period last year.

Chicken meat exports hit a new record in 2023, boosted by issues related to the Russia-Ukraine war – before the conflict, Ukraine was the sixth biggest chicken meat exporter – and by cases of H5N1 around the globe.

From January to November 2023, Brazilian chicken meat shipments totalled 4.6 million tons, 5.6% more than in the same period of 2022, according to data from Secex. The revenue obtained in the first 11 months of this year, of BRL 44.9 billion, was 2.7% lower in the same comparison. The revenue decrease, in turn, is linked to the dollar devaluation, of 4.7% in the period.

(BRL 1 = USD 0.20)