PRESS RELEASE: AVEC sounds the alarm over surge in poultry imports from Brazil

Brussels – Brazil shipped approximately 312,000 tonnes of poultry meat to the EU in the first nine months of 2026, around 34% more than the 233,000 tonnes reported for all of 2025.[1] European Commission figures also show that EU poultry meat imports from Brazil rose 44% year on year in the first half of 2026.[2]

AVEC calls for urgent action and asks the Commission to postpone any vote on restoring Brazil’s authorisation to export poultry unless Member States receive additional, independently verified guarantees on compliance with EU rules on antimicrobial use.

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Shipments accelerated before… and after the antimicrobial deadline

Brazil shipped 43,500 tonnes of chicken meat to the EU in September alone.¹ Consignments with health certificates issued before the 3 September deadline could still be shipped legally to the EU but AVEC questions why such large volumes were brought forward ahead of the deadline.

While being subject to EU food safety requirements and presenting no danger for the consumers, these massive shipments are made of poultry meat non-compliant with the new antimicrobial rules in the EU.[3]

AVEC calls for the vote to be postponed unless further guarantees are provided

The Commission has put an update to its list of authorised exporting countries on the agenda for a possible vote on 16–17 November, opening the possibility for Brazil to be relisted as eligible to export poultry meat.³
Despite, the Commission’s audit concluded that Brazil’s control system could provide the required guarantees, AVEC questions these conclusions.

Further evidence needs to demonstrate that those controls work in practice throughout the birds’ lifetime, particularly on feed sampling, as well as demonstrate that checks are performed at hatcheries and that the separation of EU-bound poultry from other production is effective.

Member States should urge the Commission to postpone the vote until receiving verified evidence addressing these points before they are asked to decide.

Four urgent measures for the EU policy makers:

The surge in Brazilian poultry imports, including shipments entering outside tariff quotas, exposes a gap in EU origin labelling. When imported chicken ends up in a ready meal or is served in a restaurant, canteen or other catering outlet, consumers often have no way to tell where it came from.

AVEC therefore calls for four urgent measures:

1. Require origin labelling (EU vs Non EU) for poultry in processed foods and catering. Consumers should be able to see the country of origin of the chicken they buy or are served.
2. Bring poultry tariff quota management back under EU control. EU authorities should allocate access to quotas and ensure that exporting countries cannot use any mean to decide which operators obtain access.
3. Use the EU–Mercosur safeguard mechanism for poultry. The Commission should urgently publish the relevant preferential import volumes and prices and assess whether they warrant opening an investigation.[4]
4. Reject any poultry concessions to Thailand. The EU should grant no additional preferential access to Thailand which already benefits from a significant preferential access to the EU and while the shortcomings in traceability and certification identified by the Commission remain unresolved.[5]

AVEC will publish its Competitiveness study on EU poultry during a webinar on Monday 30 November 2026 at 14:00 CET. *** Register here.

The study finds that the EU’s cost disadvantage after slaughter widened against all five competitors examined (Brazil, Thailand, Ukraine, Argentina and United States).

Their costs were 28–44% below the EU benchmark in 2024, compared with 14–26% in 2017. The study also identifies 52 EU legislative instruments with potential cost implications across the poultry supply chain.

While the EU Deforestation Regulation is due to apply to feed inputs such as soya (impacting EU producers’ costs only) and a new animal welfare proposal is in preparation, AVEC calls on policymakers to stop adding obligations for European producers and first verify and enforce identical standards in third countries supplying the EU market.

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[1] Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA), monthly export releases for January–September 2026 and EU Agrifood data portal September release · EU Agri food data portal

[2] European Commission and Eurostat, EU poultry meat imports measured in carcass-weight equivalent. Poultry market dashboard

[3] European Commission. Antimicrobial import rules · Brazil audit · Committee agenda, item B.04

[4] Regulation (EU) 2026/687 on EU–Mercosur agricultural safeguards

[5] AVEC statement on the Commission’s Thailand audit findings

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For further information, please contact:

Birthe Steenberg, Secretary General
Email: bs@avec-poultry.eu

Maria Nikolaidi, Communications Manager
Email: mn@avec-poultry.eu, Tel: +32468224193