Sub-Saharan Africa is buying five times as much U.S. poultry meat as it did a decade ago, says the USDA, chronicling the emergence of a new, large market for meat imports. Urbanization, population growth, higher incomes and shortfalls in domestic production propelled a 45-percent increase in imports from the three largest suppliers, Brazil, EU and United States, in a five-year span.
“The surge in U.S. poultry exports to Africa, including sub-Saharan Africa, started in 2004 and the exports rose from 90.36 to 486.9 million kg valued at $557 million in 2014,” wrote USDA economist Fawzi Taha in the monthly Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook.
As a result, Africa is the second-largest destination for U.S. poultry meat exports, with 12.6 percent of the total. Mexico is first with 23.8 percent and Hong Kong is third at 8.6 percent. Almost all of the U.S. sales go to sub-Saharan Africa. The United States is now the largest supplier to the continent. Brazil dominates sales to northern Africa, where consumers prefer whole birds. The EU is the leader in sales to South Africa. The United States has the lion’s share of sales to sub-Saharan Africa, where the bulk of the population lives. Strong demand for poultry meat imports is projected by the USDA to continue for the coming decade.