Already the world's export leader in soybeans and beef, Brazil is expected to eclipse the U.S. as the world's largest chicken exporter in 2004. Seven years ago, Brazil exported less than a third of the U.S. level but ended 2004 with 36% of the world market share, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The main reason is booming demand in the Middle East and Asia, particularly China.
Brazil's rise in the poultry industry mirrors its meteoric rise in the beef and soybean industries. The professed aim of Brazil, which is largely still a Third-World nation, is to use agriculture, and specifically beef production, as a lever to First-World status. Brazilian leaders see the injection of economic vigor into its rural areas as the key to future stability for the country.
|*Source: Colorado State University|