The loss of export markets due to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is a situation that too many countries have become familiar with over recent years. Last year, Chile joined that group of unfortunates, seeing its exports crash.
Latest estimates from the Chilean Meat Exporters’ Association (ChileCarne), which represents the country’s main meat exporting companies, suggest that the country’s chicken meat exports by volume plummeted by almost a third, compared to 2022, while for turkey meat the situation was even more dire, with exports contracting by 44%.
Chile has suffered episodes of low pathogenic virus over the last two decades, but the last time that an outbreak of HPAI occurred was in 2002.
The country’s exporters had been benefitting from disease free status, up until HPAI was detected in wild birds in December 2022, and subsequently spread to commercial poultry flocks.
In August last year, the country declared itself HPAI-free, which was followed by official recognition from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) in September, but the damage had been done.
The virus is still circulating in the country, but not in poultry, with only six cases detected in wild birds during December 2023.
Chicken exports down but not out
ChileCarne, using customs data, has revealed that the volume of chicken meat exported in 2023 fell to 109,000 metric tons (MT), a fall of 31%. By value, the situation was worse, with exports falling by 45% to US$294 million.
Chile has gradually penetrated ever more export markets over the last couple of decades, but it’s worth remembering that a third of Chile’s chicken meat is sold overseas and once an export market is closed it can take time to re-open it.
In the case of turkey meat, exports by volume were down by 44% to 16,000 MT in comparison with 2022, while by value they fell by 57% to US$76 million. Forty-five percent of the country’s turkey meat output is exported.
On release of the figures, ChileCarne President Juan Carlos Dominguez noted that the country’s poultry producers had suffered in 2023, not only due to the impact of HPAI, but also as a result of high input costs.
Looking to 2024, however, he foresaw a more encouraging situation, given that zoning agreements had been reached, which would help preserve exports from any region’s unaffected by the virus, should HPAI be detected in commercial flocks in the future. He also expected input costs to fall.
Not all segments of Chile’s meat export business suffered last year. Pig meat exports rose by both volume and value. The country exports 50% of its pork production, with 66% of all meat exports being from the pig industry. The country’s pig meat exports were worth US$740 million last year, an increase of 15% on 2022, while by volume they rose by 12% to 296,000 MT.
