Even in the face of a challenging geopolitical scenario, the external sales of chicken meat reached record volumes in the first quarter of 2026. From January to March of this year, the Brazilian exporting sector shipped 1.45 million tons of meat, a record for a first quarter and 0.7% above the previous highest volume of 1.44 million tons, recorded in 2025, according to Secex data – Cepea analyzed the historical series, starting in 1997. This result surprises even agents of the sector consulted by Cepea, since this period of the year is characterized by lower international demand and exports tend to grow mainly in the second half of the year. In addition, according to researchers from the Research Center, specifically in March, the sector was attentive and concerned about possible impacts of the conflict in the Middle East on the Brazilian market. The excellent performance of external sales of meat, however, was not enough to contain the drops in domestic prices of the protein ...