(MENAFN- Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA)) São Paulo – Despite recording avian influenza in commercial chicken production earlier this year, Brazil is expected to close 2025 with an increase in exports of the product. Among the markets that contributed to this performance is the Arab market, which showed confidence in Brazil during the avian flu outbreak, according to industry leaders, with the United Arab Emirates being the largest buyer from January to October this year.

The overall export outlook was presented to the press on Wednesday (4) by the president of meat lobby ABPA, Ricardo Santin, who also shared his perspective on how the Arab market behaved regarding Brazil's supply during this year's avian flu outbreak.

“The UAE was a country that did not close-one of the first not to-and Saudi Arabia recognized regionalization very quickly. Although some countries closed entirely and took time to reopen, they were of lesser importance to Brazil's export profile. The Middle East as a whole has shown the greatest confidence since the beginning of this situation,” Santin said.

When sanitary problems are detected, countries usually close their markets to products from the country where the disease was reported. Regionalization happens when a country restricts its purchases to a specific geographic area of the supplier's territory where the disease occurred, rather than suspending imports from the entire country.

Santin attributes the Arab market's confidence to their knowledge of Brazil's halal production and the familiarity these countries have with Brazilian certification bodies. Brazil produces chicken according to Islamic law and is certified as halal, making it the world's largest supplier of halal meat. According to Santin, this trust has allowed the UAE to remain Brazil's largest chicken importer for a long time.

From January to October this year, Brazil exported 4.378 million metric tons of chicken, a decrease of only 0.1% compared to the same period last year. The UAE was the largest buyer, with 393,680 tons, up 0.79%. Among the five largest destinations of the product during this period, only another Arab country, Saudi Arabia, also increased its purchases-by 6.93%, reaching 332,890 tons. The other three major importers-Japan, South Africa, and China-reduced their purchases.

Santin expects the partnership with the Arab market to strengthen in 2026.“It is a partnership that has already been built and has proven to be long-lasting and solid. So, for 2026, we see a continuation of this, as well as work in Africa's halal markets,” he said, referring to the opening of the Tanzanian market, which has a Muslim population despite not being an Arab country. Santin also recalled a visit to Indonesia and the reopening of the Malaysian market, both nations with Islamic populations and halal consumption outside the Arab world.

A year of positive date

For the year, ABPA expects exports to reach up to 5.32 million tons, an increase of up to 0.5% over 2024.“Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine coming to a press conference to announce positive data,” said the association's president, referring to the country's response to avian influenza this year. During the influenza outbreak, 122 markets remained fully open to Brazilian chicken, while 28 closed-though many only partially, Santin notes.

After a January-to-October period of a contraction considered very small by ABPA-only 0.1%-the expectation is that exports for the cumulative January-to-November period will already show a slight increase of 0.1%.“We have to celebrate the recovery,” Santin said. For next year, ABPA projects exports of 5.5 million tons, an increase of over 3.4%, provided there are no avian influenza cases. Even if influenza occurs, the association believes the impact will be smaller due to the measures being implemented, such as the adoption of regionalization by importing markets.

Read more:
Arabs import more chicken meat from Brazil

Translated by Guilherme Miranda

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