Pork and Poultry were Chile’s fourth most exported food in 2022

The Central Bank reported that foods in general gave Chile’s total exports an 11% boost last year, reaching historic levels for the sector, with 21.5 billion USD. Among the products with the greatest change, poultry -chicken and turkey- stands out with a 40% growth in exports.

Chile’s Central Bank issued a report with the country’s total export figures by December 2022, showing a 3% year-over-year growth and reaching 97.4 billion USD. 21.5 billion USD came from the food sector with 1.3 billion USD from chicken, turkey, and pork exports. According to figures from Chilean Customs for 2022, this figure translated into 637,000 tons cwe of these three proteins, which represents 95% of total Chilean meat exports.

An in-depth analysis of the food sector figures shows that the increase in foreign sales is driven by a 16% growth in exports of processed products. The largest increases were seen in poultry (40%), salmon and trout (27%), and dehydrated fruits (25%). According to figures from the Central Bank, poultry exports reached 700 million USD in 2022, compared to the 499 million USD in 2021. Meanwhile, although pork exports dropped 21% in value, exports reached 608 million USD last year.

In terms of the total volume of white meat exported in 2022, according to Chilean Customs, chicken reached 208,000 tons cwe; pork, 31,000 tons cwe; and turkey 398,000 tons cwe.

The Foreign Trade Monthly Report for January to December 2022, issued by the government, underscores that Chilean products reached 194 countries and saw an increase in exports to 126 of them. The biggest increases occurred in China, South Korea, and Japan, all destinations where pork has consolidated its presence and awareness level over the years.

When analyzing these results, Juan Carlos Domínguez, ChileCarne’s President pointed out: “Chile’s favorable animal health conditions and our network of trade agreements allow us to reach numerous markets with our products and take advantage of the high demand for poultry in the Northern Hemisphere caused by Avian influenza outbreaks. Although the value of exports grew because of this spike in demand, production costs, particularly for grains, saw a historic rise, which ultimately had a negative impact in companies’ profits.”