According to Kendi Okumura, Export Manager at GTF, Brazil holds approximately 40% of the global market share. However, competitiveness is a daily challenge, as other exporters continue to evolve in efficiency, trade agreements, and logistics. In this context, differentiation increasingly relies on quality, compliance, consistency, and a value-driven product mix.

GTF, headquartered in Maringá (PR), Brazil, is authorized to export poultry to more than 100 countries, including South Africa, Mexico, China, European nations, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.

Regarding the company’s export performance last year, Okumura states:
“At GTF, we evaluate 2025 as a year of strong commercial execution and operational discipline. There were strategic shifts in product mix and a focus on higher value-added markets and channels, along with swift adjustments to regulatory, sanitary, and logistical variations, which helped sustain competitiveness. Even in the face of adversity, we achieved growth in both volume and added value.”

Procedures and Challenges
For products to reach international markets, proper certification is required. According to Okumura:
“Maintaining these certifications involves audits, sanitary requirements, traceability, animal welfare, documentation, and regulatory updates that vary by country and often demand investments and highly robust compliance routines.”

Among the main export challenges are:

  • Cold chain management, ensuring product integrity from loading to destination;
  • Availability and cost of refrigerated containers (reefers), as well as their repositioning;
  • Shipping windows, transit time, and route reliability, which impact planning and inventory management;
  • Documentary bureaucracy and synchronization of inspections and certifications;
  • Risk management, including delays, port changes, congestion, and freight rate fluctuations.

Another relevant factor is the so-called Brazil Cost (Custo Brasil), which includes inland freight, port access, and logistical challenges. The combination of long distances, uneven infrastructure, high domestic transportation costs, and variability in the port and maritime systems requires strategic planning, operational redundancies, and strong partnerships with shipping lines and logistics operators.

Cultural Preferences
Each region of the world has its own particularities and demands specific poultry cuts. The main preferences include:

  • Asia: whole wings, mid-joint wings, thighs and drumsticks, cartilage, and chicken feet;
  • Africa: thighs and drumsticks, mechanically deboned meat (MDM), breast, and feet;
  • Middle East: thighs, drumsticks, gizzards, livers, and breast;
  • Europe: breast;

Americas: thighs and drumsticks, whole wings, drumettes, breast, and feet.
In poultry exports, there is strong demand for both fresh and processed products. However, fresh products still account for the majority of global volume, driven by price competitiveness and consumption habits.

Processed products, in turn, are gaining ground in markets seeking convenience, standardization, and food service solutions. They also offer more attractive margins when companies capture value through quality and service, including specification, innovation, and consistency.