Chicken Exporters for the World

Who exports chicken so as to help feed the world?  How does Canada compare?  Since we lost most of our manufacturing jobs and GDP to China et al., agriculture production is the biggest boost for Canadian GDP.  That means jobs.  Canadians need jobs.  Agricultural jobs could be a help to improving prosperity for Canadians.  Unfortunately, we have Supply Management which kills all that potential.

Broiler Chicken Production

US Dept. of Agriculture ("USDA") keeps track of the world's food production.  Index Mundi reports those data as shown below in Figure 1.

We can see that the USA is the world's biggest producer of broiler chicken meat, 17.752 Million metric tonnes per year.  The US is followed by Brazil, Chine, EU-27, India, Russia, and so on, and eventually you find Canada in 16th place.

The US population is 318.9 Million, so that broiler production is 55,666 MT per million population.

Jaguafrangos chicken process plant in Londrina,
Parana, southern Brazil.
Photo: AFP PHOTO/GILBERTO
ABELHA/GAZETA DO POVO/AE

Brazil, the world's #2 chicken grower, has a population of 202.034 Million.  With 13,115,000 MT of broiler chicken grown, that a per capita production of 64,914.8 MT/million population, which is 16.61% higher that the US per capita production.  Brazil is a chicken powerhouse!

Economic challenges are affecting Brazil and its chicken industry.  The Brazilian currency (viz. the Brazilian Real, BRL) has been devalued by 28% since Aug. 2014 which helps Brazilian exports, including chicken.

Canada, with 35.345 Million citizens and just 1,100,000 MT of broiler production, has a ratio of 31,121.80 MT per million population; which is just 55.9% of what the USA produces.  Do you think Canada only produces 55.9% of the US per capita broiler production because of our backward Supply Management system?

What is wrong with Canada and our chicken exports?  I previously discussed Canada's chicken exports, as compared to the other OECD nations, and we suck on that basis too (see Blog post "Why not Export Canadian Chicken?" ).

I suggest that exporting is hard work, and takes decades to establish.  Canada's Chicken Supply Management Millionaires would rather sit back, take it easy, and pick off helpless Canadian consumers with the Chicken Mafia's poor quality chicken and price gouging.  This easier work is made foolproof when you have paid lobbyists and friends in high places.

Growth in Canadian Chicken Exports

Figure 2:  Growth Rate in Broiler Chicken Exports, by Country.
Canada had a 2.04% annual growth, putting us in 28th place.
Canada barely beat Guatemala.

Maybe what Canada lacks in volume, we make up for in rate of growth.  Here is the world data from Index Mundi:

Nope, sorry.  Canada  is in 28th place.  No gold, no silver, no bronze medals for us.

However, we did beat small, yet tropical Guatemala, for what its worth.

Chicken Exports

Chicken exports by Canada puts us in 9th place amongst the 28 countries that export chicken into the world, exporting just 155,000 Metric Tonnes per year.  I guess that is better than being dead last amongst the OECD Nations for chicken exports.

Can We Learn From Brazil?

If Brazil can do it, why not Canada?

Brazil started exporting chicken in 1975.  Brazil increased their exports by an average of 12.81%/yr, doubling and re-doubling every 5.5 years.

If Brazil can, why not Canada? All we have to do is get rid of Supply Management.

Figure 4:   Brazil's chicken exports, starting from zero in 1975, has become the largest
chicken exporter in the world.  If Brazil can, why not Canada?