Top Latin American broiler, layer rankings for 2020

Latin America’s top companies ranking shows modest growth for the region’s producers but there are some surprises.

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Jim Vallee | BigStockPhoto.com
Jim Vallee | BigStockPhoto.com

Once again, but this time in a new home, Poultry International presents its exclusive listing of the top poultry companies in Latin America.

After full steam ahead in 2019, the Latin American poultry industry suffered the tsunami of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

We will publish our country rankings for broiler rankings and layer numbers in a future edition of Poultry International, however, everything indicates that Latin American broiler and egg production was broadly flat last year with, at best, only marginal growth. Where turkey production in concerned, the contraction of previous years continued in 2020.

While 2019 saw most companies record healthy growth, 2020 saw companies record no, or at best marginal, expansion. Two companies, however, stand out from the rest, the Brazilian giants BRF and JBS, perhaps benefitting from strong export demand.

In most cases, broiler companies in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, and the Central American nations, maintained very similar production levels to those of 2019. Chile recorded some small increases, as did Venezuela, a country that is difficult to compare year-on-year in terms of statistics.

For this latest edition of Latin America’s Top Poultry Companies we have added several Peruvian companies to the list that had previously been under our radar. This better consolidates Peru's position as the fourth-largest Latin American producer, very close to Colombia.

Where egg production is concerned, with the exception of large producers in Brazil and Mexico, output in 2020 was also much like that of 2019.

There have, however, been some changes and we report upward adjustments in egg producers for Chile, Ecuador and Guatemala, and downward adjustments for the Dominican Republic.

Broiler top 10

The ranking of the top 10 broiler companies is dominated by Brazil and Mexico.

Data received this year for Brazil’s BRF and Seara indicate significant rises in output. However, caution is advised as, for both of these companies this year, while information came from highly reliable sources, it did not come directly from these companies.

Mexico’s Bachoco, reported no change in its output for 2019. Nevertheless, it remains the leader in the country and the third largest poultry producer in Latin America.

These three leading companies, together, process 5.4 billion broilers- accounting for 3 out of 4 of all the broilers processed by the top ten Latin American companies. The remaining seven companies produce 1.6 billion birds across 12 countries.

Latin America’s large chicken producing companies typically operate across numerous countries. JBS, for example, in addition to its home market, also produces in Mexico under the brand name Pilgrim’s Pride, while Cargill Protein Latin America has operations in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Colombia. Alimentos CMI has operations in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica.

This latest ranking sees the return of Brazil's Lar Cooperativa Agroindustrial’s to the list of top 10 after slipping out of the ranking last year. 

Layer top 10

Unlike their peers in the broiler industry, the region’s top 10 egg-producing companies are focused on their home market and do not have foreign subsidiaries.

These 10 leading companies have 125.5 million laying hens in production. This is thought to represent a quarter of the total Latin American layer flock.

For several years, the list of top 10 egg companies has been dominated by Mexico – home to 5 of the 10 leading companies. Most notable of these is Proan, the largest egg producer in the region and the second largest egg producer in the world. Brazil is home to three of the largest egg-producing companies.

The top three companies, two Mexican and one Brazilian, account for over 48% of the top ten’s combined layer flock with 60.2 mullion laying hens.

Eight of the top 10 laying companies now have at least 10 million birds, up from 7 million last year. There are some Latin American countries whose entire flock does not reach this level.

This increase in layer numbers is well illustrated by Mexico’s Proan, which expanded its layer flock last year by 2 million head – an almost 6% increase. Proan may maintain a low profile but it is, nevertheless a strong, well-established company secure in its position in the Latin American and worldwide rankings.

Similarly, Bachoco, a company more focused on broiler production but that maintains strong brand awareness in Mexico, grew its layer flock by 6.6%

Brazil’s Granja Mantiqueira has recorded an even more impressive 9.5% growth in its layer flock. A leading company in the Brazilian market, the company demonstrated strong product marketing over the last year with innovations in distribution to help it succeed during the pandemic.

Another company worth highlighting for its recent growth is Colombia’s Incubadora Santander. A result of the company management’s business vision, Incubadora Santander’s expansion has occurred hand-in-hand with Colombia’s tremendous growth in egg consumption.

Turkey production

Latin America has never stood out as being a region of significant turkey production. Only a few companies produce turkeys in only few countries, and output over recent years would appear to be declining.

As in the broiler sector, BRF and Seara (JBS) are the region’s main turkey producers. They are followed by Chile’s Sopraval, Peru’s San Fernando and Agrícola Ariztía, also based in Chile.

Ecuador is home to several turkey producers, the leading company being Pronaca, while two Mexican producers have also recently increased their production.

 

To learn more about the world’s leading poultry and egg producers, visit:

www.wattagnet.com/directories/80

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