EU poultry imports grow because of tight market

The tightness in the European poultry meat market has led to a clear increase in imports. In particular, Brazil benefited significantly in the first half of the year, until exports were halted due to avian influenza. Notably, more than half of the imports are facilitated by the Netherlands. European poultry meat imports have risen significantly in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2024. Imports increased by 9.5% to 452,723 tons. Over a five-year period, imports have even risen by 18.3%. Netherlands key importing country Brazil strongly benefited in the first six months of 2025 from the tight European market. Brazilian exports to the European Union rose by 9.5% to 141,677 tons. In June, the import ban was not yet visible in the statistics, but in July the reported exports to the EU fell sharply. The Netherlands saw imports increase by 11.2% from 240,263 tons to 267,274 tons, accounting for 59% of all imports. Ireland follows as the second largest with an import of 47,770 tons. Imports from France rose by 5.6% to 36,838 tons, while exports from Spain increased by 25.9% to 27,484 tons. Conversely, exports to Germany decreased by 8.4% to 27,501 tons. In June, Brazil exported 24,646 tons to the European market, but in July only 5,250 tons were reported. Thailand also achieved strong results: exports to the EU increased by 15.7% to 84,285 tons. Imports from the United Kingdom remained relatively stable, with a slight increase of 1.4% to 114,543 tons. On the other hand, Ukraine faced challenges due to stricter trade quotas; exports declined by 16.5% in the first half of the year to 78,481 tons. Avian influenza main cause The rising imports are a result of a very tight European market. Over the first six months of 2025, a clear decline in chicken meat production is visible. Total production decreased by 11% compared to the previous year, down to 12 million tons. In various European countries, production decreased this year due to outbreaks of avian influenza, most notably in Poland. In this Eastern European country, production fell in the first half of the year. Since 2009, this has only happened once before, in 2021. Total production decreased by 10.3% to 1.15 million tons. In Northern Europe, the picture was different. Countries managed to keep the avian influenza virus at bay. The Netherlands saw production increase by 3.6% against the European trend. This was slightly stronger than the performance of neighboring countries, which also remained positive. German production increased by 1%, and Belgian production rose by 1.1%. This sharp decline hits hard, as production had grown significantly in recent years. In 2024, the European Union reached a record production of 27.5 million tons of chicken meat, an increase of 4.8% compared to the previous year. Additionally, stronger demand is leading to a significantly tighter market situation. The European Union estimates demand growth at about 3% per year.