Paraná lifts chicken exports 26.4% in August as pork revenue slips nationally
Paraná exported 200,600 tonnes of chicken meat in August, up 26.4% year on year, keeping Brazil's top position, while its pork shipments rose 24.3% to 22,800 tonnes. Nationally, chicken export revenue hit US$997.9 million in August, but pork revenue fell 1.7% despite higher volumes, and live hog prices in the South began to retreat.
Two of Paraná's largest agribusiness chains closed the third quarter of 2026 with higher export volumes but sharply different conditions at home, according to Gazeta do Paraná. Chicken and pork both gained ground abroad, while the behaviour of supply and prices inside Brazil pulled the two protein complexes in opposite directions.
Paraná holds the national lead in chicken
In August the state exported 200,600 tonnes of chicken meat, up 26.4% from the same month of 2025. The volume kept Paraná in first place nationally, ahead of Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo and Goiás. In poultry the state not only leads Brazilian exports but also accounts for a substantial share of national production.
Brazil as a whole exported 492,600 tonnes of chicken meat in August, 24.8% more than a year earlier. Revenue reached US$997.9 million, a 42.7% increase and the second-best monthly result in the historical series. Between January and August, shipments totalled 3.921 million tonnes, 15.5% above the same period of 2025, with revenue advancing faster, 21.9%, to US$7.689 billion.
Part of that annual jump has to be read against the 2025 base. In that period important markets temporarily suspended purchases from Brazil after avian influenza was recorded on a commercial farm. With the health situation resolved, destinations such as China and the European Union regained weight in shipments.
Pork volumes rise while revenue slips
In pork, Paraná ranks third among Brazilian exporters. The state shipped 22,800 tonnes in August, 24.3% above the 18,400 tonnes recorded in the same month last year. That advance was well ahead of the 8% growth posted by Brazilian pork exports over the period. Activity is heavily concentrated in the western and southwestern regions of the state.
Nationally, Brazil exported 131,100 tonnes of pork in August, 8% more than in August 2025. Over the first eight months of the year, volume passed the 1 million tonne mark for the first time in 2026, reaching 1.057 million tonnes, up 8.9%. The revenue line tells a different story: August receipts fell 1.7%, from US$294.9 million to US$289.9 million year on year. For the year to date, revenue rose 4.8%, a slower pace than the 8.9% gain in traded volume.
Diverging signals in the domestic market
Chicken prices in Brazil began to turn after two months of declines. A survey by Cepea, the Centre for Advanced Studies on Applied Economics at Esalq/USP, shows quotations posted a small recovery in August across most of the regions it tracks. The research centre attributes the reaction mainly to stronger domestic demand and the solid pace of exports. Supply, which had been weighing on quotations, became better aligned with demand.
Hogs moved the other way. Cepea identified a retreat in live hog prices in the South in early September, linked to greater availability of animals for slaughter. Even with improving domestic demand, the larger supply has limited support for the prices received by producers.
The most recent IBGE data show the scale of national supply. In the second quarter of this year, 15.58 million hogs were slaughtered in Brazil, while poultry slaughter reached 1.687 billion birds.
The recent performance shows that exporting more does not by itself translate into higher farmgate prices. In chicken, simultaneous strength in external and domestic demand helped quotations react after two months of losses. In pork, growing foreign sales still coexist with a larger supply of animals in the South, keeping pressure on the market.
