China Reopens Door to Polish Poultry

A Chinese import ban on Polish poultry products like chicken and turkey has recently been lifted, says Poland’s chief veterinary officer. An outbreak of the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza virus, detected in December of 2016, prompted China to close its markets to Polish poultry. Poland has since been declared free of the virus, and a new protocol regarding trade between the two countries was discussed and signed by China’s minister of general administration and customs and Poland’s minister of agriculture and rural development in July.

Poland is the European Union’s top poultry producer, and generally exports around 50 percent of its total production annually. Although most of these exports head to EU neighbors, Poland is currently one of only five countries that has China’s approval to export poultry products to China, and the only country from the EU with this market access. In 2016, Poland exported 15,688 tonnes of poultry products to China, but this figure plummeted to just 854 tonnes in 2017. The USDA Warsaw office forecasts Polish total world-wide poultry exports will increase 6 percent this year to 1.03 million tonnes and an additional 3 percent in 2019, helped in part by growing poultry demand from China. Gro Intelligence subscribers can keep up with global poultry trade and consumption trends through our extensive library of data.

Poland’s poultry exports to China fell sharply after Avian Influenza was detected in December 2016 (left chart). Now that the market has reopened between the two countries, exports are expected to rise again, backed by China’s growing appetite for poultry (right chart).