October means that it is time to return to our unique ranking of the world’s leading broiler and egg producers.

If you are a follower of these tables, you will remember that last year, we added some changes to the format, breaking out the subsidiaries of some of the leading companies to give a better idea of their geographical reach.

The change was well-received, so we have broken out more subsidiaries this year for more companies, both in the main rankings and through some new tables.

As ever, in addition to the rankings presented here, there is much more information available via our on-line database, thanks to the tireless efforts of our researchers around the world.

At the end of each company entry in the tables, you will find a link to that company’s database profile. The database offers data going back a number of years, as well as detail on production, facilities, company milestones and contact information.

We have kept this data free of charge, it is simply a question of registering or logging-in to gain access.

Leading broiler producers

Much has changed for all of us over the past year and ranking of the world’s leading broiler producers is no exception.

Brazil’s JBS continues in the top spot, a position it has held since overtaking the U.S.’s Tyson back in 2017. Slaughtering over 4.4 billion birds, the company’s output rose by almost 10%.

A different story has played out at Tyson, which saw output decline by 4.5%. This was enough to see it fall from being the world’s second largest broiler producer to being its third.

The second-largest broiler producer in the world is now BRF, which slaughtered almost 2.2 billion birds last year, an increase of 40%. 

Chinese company Wen’s Food Group now occupies fourth place, while fifth is held by Thailand’s CP Group, previously ranked sixth. 

So our top five ranking has changed significantly this year, after remaining the same last.

Combined, the top 20 broiler producers in the world slaughtered almost 18.3 billion birds last year. Perhaps illustrating the dominance of the two top ranking companies, over a third of this output came from JBS and BRF.

While Brazil may claim slots one and two, it cannot claim the crown for being home to the largest number of producers in the top 50 ranking. That distinction goes to the US, home to 13 of the top 50 companies, with a combined output of over 6.8 billion broilers.

In addition to JBS and BRF, there are only two other Brazilian companies in the top 50 and both are relatively small, ranking 24^th and 50^th. However, combining their output with the two leading players, the total comes to a 7.18 billion, outstripping that of the U.S’s 13 companies.  

Despite these two other Brazilian companies being ranked toward the lower reaches of the top 50, when their output is combined with that of their bigger competitors, Brazilian companies now account for over 26% of the broilers slaughtered by the world’s 50 leading companies.

Egg

A Chinese company makes it into the top five egg producing companies measured by number of layers. Beijing Dequingyuan Agricultural Technology Co Ltd now occupies fifth place with a flock of 20.6 million layers. Chinese companies also now appear further down the rankings

Slots one to four, however, remain the same this year as last, with companies drawn from the U.S. Mexico and Thailand.

As with broiler production, there are more companies in the top 25 from the U.S. than from any other country, but the number this year has fallen from 10 to 8.

Brazil, not known as a major egg producing country but increasingly active in the egg export market, sees three companies ranked in the top 25, up from two last year.

Mexico’s participation, which includes the second-largest egg producing company in the word, Proteina Animal, sees five of its companies feature in the top 25 this year, the same as last.

Learn more about the World’s Top Poultry Companies at:

www.WATTPoultry.com/directories/20

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