South Africa has become one of the top 10 destinations for Brazilian chicken meat around the globe.The only African market in the top 10, South Africa’s volumes and portion of the export market are expected to grow.This is according to the consolidated 2025 and 2026 interim results of the poultry and pork production report released by the Associação Brasileira De Proteina Animal (Association for Brazilian Animal Protein, or Abpa) in São Paulo on Monday. The data underscores the delicate balance that exists between South Africa and Brazil in their poultry markets. While supply of Brazilian poultry to the SA market has softened the blow of avian flu and helped make chicken more affordable for low-income households as a meat protein source, local poultry producers struggle to compete with the scale and price and have requested tariff protections.The report was released ahead of Abpa’s International Animal Protein Trade Show (Siavs). According to the data, South Africa was the fourth-largest destination for Brazilian chicken meat in 2025, taking in 336,022 metric tons that year, or 6.5% of total exported volumes.This was behind only the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which took 479,944 metric tons or 9.29%, Japan, which took 402,901 metric tons (7.79%), and Saudi Arabia, which took 397,225 metric tons or 7.68%.“In 2025, Brazil produced 15,289-million metric tons of chicken meat. The domestic market received 65.18% of this volume and exports accounted for 34.82%. Brazil exported to 153 markets and remained the world’s largest exporter of the product. For 2026, exports are projected at up to 5.875-million metric tons,” the report said.From January to June 2026, South Africa was the sixth largest destination for Brazilian chicken meat, taking in 185,347 metric tons, up 38.35% from the corresponding period in 2025.South Africa is behind China with 285,409 metric tons, Japan with 241,869 metric tons, Saudi Arabia with 213,768 metric tons, the UAE with 211,944 metric tons, and the 27-state bloc of EU countries with 189,600 metric tons of Brazilian chicken meat imported.Magubane was invited to the Siavs 2026 conference in São Paulo by Abpa.