US chicken leg quarter exports remain challenged by ongoing HPAI outbreak: USDA

US chicken leg quarter exports in May were effectively unchanged from the prior month and remain well off recent typical levels due to the ongoing bird flu outbreak among US poultry flocks, which has made American chicken less marketable abroad.

The US exported 103,342 mt of chicken leg quarters in May, a marginal increase of 712 mt or less than 1% compared with April's exports, the latest US Department of Agriculture data showed. The average price of chicken leg quarters was $1,164/mt, or 53 cents/lb, in May.

Prior to May, CLQ exports had declined for four consecutive months, and the US is currently on track to export the lowest amount of leg quarters since 2002. Market participants attributed the decline to the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, outbreak.

Since the first positive test in February 2022, 97.3 million birds have been affected by HPAI. However, the vast majority of cases are found in non-broiler birds, with commercial table egg layers accounting for 73% of cases, followed by 14.5% for turkey meat birds. Broiler birds account for just over 6% of cases.

Despite the decline in US chicken meat exports, the value of chicken leg quarters has steadily risen, averaging 52 cents/lb in 2024, compared with 47 cents/lb in 2023 and 51 cents/lb in 2022.

Mexico was the top importer of US chicken in May, accounting for 8% of the total, followed by Iraq at 7%. Taiwan, Guatemala, and the UAE all imported 6% of the total. Among the top 10 importing countries, Mexico also had the highest average value for chicken leg quarters, at $1,346/mt or 61 cents/lb, the data show.