Washington Report

Chicken exports this February were 283,258 metric tons valued at $343.79 million compared with 317,781 tons valued at $379.04 million in February 2012,  a decrease of 10.9 percent and 9.3 percent for quantity and value, respectively. Mexico was again the leading parts market with 43,986 tons valued at $49.94 million in February 2012, 6.5 percent ahead of a year earlier for quantity and 9.6 percent more for value.

China with 28,354 tons valued at $34.20 million was the second largest parts destination and experienced a 130.7-percent increase and 118.4-percent increase in value. Nine of the top 15 parts market registered gains in both tonnage and value. Although the top 15 markets combined had slippages in both quantity (-4.4 percent) and value (-4.2 percent), that performance was somewhat better than other countries, which saw a 24.4 percent drop in tonnage and a 20.7-percent decrease in value when February 2013 is compared with February 2012.

Chicken parts exports for February 2012 and February 2013 were as follows:

For the first two months of this year chicken parts exports totaled 537,144 tons valued at $659.41 million compared with 569,519 tons valued at $679.50 million during January-February 2012, a 5.7 percent decline in quantity and a 3.0 percent slip in value. Ten of the top 15 markets had increases in tonnage while nine experienced higher values. For the top 15 parts markets combined tonnage was ahead by 2.6 percent while value rose 4.3 percent. For “other countries,” however, the quantity was off 22.4 percent and the value down 18.7 percent when January-February 2013 is compared with the first two months of last year.

Chicken parts exports during January-February 2012 and January-February 2013 were as follows: