Adapting to China's desire for frozen poultry and redirecting cooked meat exports from Europe to Japan, Thai broiler exporters made the best of a bad year.
Just as it did earlier with beef and pork, China is now a powerful, decisive player in the world poultry trade: Smiling fortune on those on does business with and creating difficulties for those it does not buy from.
Those who could take advantage of booming Chinese poultry demand benefitted – and none did so more than Thailand. China offset falling EU shipments, making for a nominal 1.3% increase in 2020 exports to 911,000 tonnes, from a Thai Customs estimated 900,000 tonnes last year.