The world’s largest broiler producers have become more or less household names for those that work in the poultry industry, their positions assured as demand for chicken meat around the world continues to rise.
While it is true that some of these enterprises have been around for a long time, they have not all always been active in the poultry industry. One, for example, started out as a small cattle slaughtering business, while another germinated as a small seed shop!
From little acorns mighty oak trees grow, or in the case of CP Group, which is the company that started out as a seed shop, mighty broiler businesses.
CP is the company in our Top 10 ranking with the longest history, tracing its roots back to 1921. As remarkable as the company’s long-term success has been, other broiler producers in our Top 10 are far, far younger, achieving their success within just a few decades.
While all the companies in the ranking are clearly experts in producing broilers, their business models vary enormously. For some, poultry is the key activity, for others the broader animal protein sector, and for yet others, their businesses may include construction, veterinary medicines or even construction.
Our latest research round into the global poultry industry has revealed the following companies as the current market leaders.
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1. JBS
JBS-truck
Courtesy JBS
JBS – the largest broiler producer in the world – produces 4,436 million broilers each year. Almost everything about the Brazilian company is big, but it was not always so; and the company has not always been active in poultry.
JBS was founded in 1953 and started as a small slaughter operation with a daily capacity of five cattle. Now, the company is the largest poultry and beef producer in the world, the second largest food and pork producer, and holds top five category positions in numerous countries around the world.
Across its various divisions, the company can also claim to be the largest employer in its home market, with 155,900 employees.
JBS has come a long way since its first cattle slaughter facility was established in Anápolis, Goiás. Now headquartered in Brazil’s business capital São Paulo, it has operations in 25 countries around the world and sells into 190. In fact, its home market now accounts for only 13% of revenue, with its largest overseas market being the U.S., the source of approximately 50% of sales.
At home, the company’s Seara division is responsible for the production of fresh poultry, pork and prepared foods and employs approximately 92,000, what the company classes as, team members. The division has 30 poultry processing plants producing 5.4 million birds per day.
Abroad, the company’s poultry operations operate primarily as Pilgrim’s Pride. Pilgrim’s Pride, is present in the U.S., Mexico, Puerto Rico and Europe. The division has 36 poultry processing plants, processing 8.4 million birds daily and employing over 65,000 team members.
JBS notes that, since 2013, it has increasingly diversified into value added and branded products and is continuing to expand.
Among investments during 2024 were US$50 million in a chicken nuggets plant in Saudi Arabia, quadrupling its production capacity there and creating 500 jobs, and a cultivated protein facility in Spain. In late 2024, JBS entered a memorandum of understanding with the Nigerian government to build six processing plants, three of which would be for broilers, two for beef and one for pork with a total cost of US$2.5 billion.
2. Tyson Foods
Tyson-Foods-logo
Courtesy Tyson Foods
Tyson Foods, which produces 2,079.0 million birds per annum, has operations in 16 countries across five continents.
The company has a portfolio of foods, sold under a variety of brand names, and claims to produce 20% of the beef, pork and chicken in its home market of the U.S. It also claims to be the only company in the country that sells chicken, beef, pork and prepared foods through all major distribution channels.
Tyson’s chicken business recorded operating income of US$1.02 million for the year to September 28, 2024, a significant increase compared to the US$77 million loss recorded for the previous year. The company attributed the turnaround, in part, to lower grain prices, but also to focusing on the fundamentals of live production and to achieving plant efficiencies, adding that its outlook was now more stable and predictable.
Tyson Foods was established as a chicken business in the early 1930s. Its poultry operations are primarily focused on its home market but the division is also active in Asia, Europe and Latin America.
The company is the owner of poultry genetics concern Cobb-Vantress.
3. BRF
BRF-Logo
Courtesy BRF
Brazilian BRF is the world’s third largest poultry producer, producing 1,670 million broilers annually.
Now one of the world’s largest producers of fresh and frozen food, the company has over 100,000 employees worldwide.
2024 was a particularly successful year for the enterprise, with third quarter results that were among the best in its 90-year history and representing the seventh consecutive expansionary quarter. Revenue was up by 12.4% compared to the same quarter in 2023. At R$15.5 billion (US$2.59 billion), this was its highest level ever.
Among reasons cited for the success were volume increases in its home market, while overseas success was attributed to a market diversification strategy and an increase in sales of value-added products. The impressive third quarter results followed a second quarter described as the best in the company’s history.
Beyond its home market, BRF has industrial units in the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia, and 29 distribution centers in Asia, the Middle East and Southern Cone.
In late 2024, BRF and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund subsidiary the Halal Products Development Company, announced an investment in Addoha Poultry Company, with a value of SAR316.2 million (US$84.3 million). BRF has operated in the Middle East for over 50 years, but the investment, which equates to 26% ownership for the two parties, results in BRF producing locally for the first time.
Late 2024 also saw the company acquire a modern processed foods plant in China, for R$460 million.
4. Wen’s Food Group
Wen’s Food Group, headquartered in Yunfu City, China, produces 1,183 million broilers each year.
Mainly active in poultry and pig production, since its establishment in the 1980s the group has consolidated over 300 companies, comprising 49,800 family farms. It now sells across numerous regions in China
As well as being China’s largest broiler producer and one of its largest pork producers, Wen’s also slaughters waterfowl and sheep and is active in egg and fish production.
5. Wayne-Sanderson Farms
Wayne-Sanderson-logo
Courtesy Wayne-Sanderson Farms
Georgia, U.S.-headquartered Wayne-Sanderson Farms comes in fifth in this year’s ranking, producing 1,071.2 million birds each year.
Wayne-Sanderson operates 23 fresh and further processing facilities across seven states, and sells into retail, foodservice, restaurants, industrial and institutional sectors. The result of a merger that completed in 2022, Wayne-Sanderson farms is thought to have 26,000 employees. In 2024, however, it announced some layoffs stating that it had been going through the merger and acquisition process.
At the start of 2024, it announced an investment of US$43 million at its Daneville Fresh Processing Complex in Arkansas where it would construct a new feed mill.
6. Japfa
Founded as a single poultry feed mill in Indonesia in 1971, Japfa has grown to become the world’s sixth-largest poultry company, producing 981.0 million broilers annually. Now headquartered in Singapore, it is a leading industrialized agri-food company in Aisa.
Japfa’s businesses include feed, breeding, commercial farming, and food processing and distribution.
With a diverse portfolio, the company highlights that it is one of the largest integrated poultry producers in Indonesia, one of the largest producers of premium milk in China and has built a profitable swine business in Vietnam.
In addition to Indonesia, Japfa has broiler production in Vietnam, India and Bangladesh and has a workforce of 37,000.
Within its primary Indonesian market Japfa has over 120 company-owned poultry farms and works with around 8,500 contract farms. It has 16 slaughterhouses and primary processing plants. With 30 hatcheries, it is the second-largest supplier of day-old chicks. The company also has 16 feed mills making it the second-largest supplier of poultry feed locally.
7. Well-Hope Agri-Tech
Producing 810 million birds each year, China’s Well-Hope was formed in 1995 as a feed and raw materials trading concern and has gradually diversified.
Its main business activities now cover animal feed, trade in feed raw materials, broiler and swine production. In addition, the company is involved in veterinary medicine and farm equipment manufacturing. Its feed division manufactures in at least seven overseas markets. The company also owns a chain of pet clinics.
Well-Hope’s integrated broiler business owns more than 90 holdings, and comprises breeder farms, day old chick production, feed production, broiler rearing, slaughter and processing, along with further processing and cooked food. The company says that it supplies about 10% of the broiler products consumed within its home market. In addition to selling nationally, Well-Hope Agri-Tech exports to 22 countries overseas.
8. MHP
MHP-logo
Courtesy MHP
MHP continues to appear in our Top 10 despite the ongoing challenges of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. MHP was established in 1998 and produces 704 million broilers annually.
Headquartered in Kyiv, the company describes itself as an international food and agritech business. Its production facilities span Ukraine and the Balkans, while its subsidiaries operate out of the Netherlands, the U.K. and Saudi Arabia, among others.
Poultry now accounts for 60% of the company’s revenue, down from a previously reported 70%. A key part of the poultry division is Perutnina Ptuj, a leading poultry and meat processing company in the Balkans, with production facilities in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina.
MHP sells fresh and frozen birds, whole and in cuts, along with ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook convenience food, including restaurant standard products. The company is increasingly moving toward added-value products.
MHP has 15 food brands and a retail network and, within its home market, is a supplier to both KFC and McDonald's. Where the latter is concerned, MHP also supplies McDonald's in a number of European markets.
In addition to being a major producer of poultry, MHP is a major exporter of vegetable oil and grain. Approximately 60% of the company’s revenue comes from exports, and, where its poultry division is concerned, this figure jumps to approximately 70%. The company sells into over 70 overseas markets.
MHP notes that it is increasingly focusing on international expansion, with the Middle East and Europe being particular areas of interest. Despite the war, the company reports that it has almost doubled investment over the last two years reaching US$263 million. This has included the purchase of food and logistics businesses, among others.
Publicly traded since 2024, the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company has owned 12.6% of the company.
9. CP Group
CP-Group-Chicken
Courtesy CP Group
CP Group of Thailand, the major shareholder in CP Foods, produces 685 million broilers each year. CP Foods is a group of agrifood holdings active primarily in Asia and Europe. Its livestock operations comprise broiler, duck, layer, swine and aquaculture.
Within the CP Foods division, broiler activities account for about 55% of revenue. The company sells its chicken products into 30 different countries and has production sites in Russia, India, Vietnam and Türkiye. Broiler production is the division’s main activity in China, however, in 2023 it announced the divestment of four integrated poultry companies.
Parent CP Group has eight main business lines, including agro-industry and food, retail and distribution, media and telecommunication, e-commerce and digital, property and development, automotive and industrial products, pharmaceuticals, and finance and investment. The company was founded in the 1920s and has since expanded into 21 countries.
CP Foods saw lower sales over the first six months of 2024, but profits rose, the increase attributable to cost controls and restructuring.
10. Fujian Sunner Development Co.
Producing 680 million birds annually, China’s Fujian Sunner Development Co., Ltd. part of the Sunner Group, is active in broiler genetics and production, processing, further processing, and food and product sales. In addition, it has breeder farms, produces eggs and feed. The company primarily produces white broilers and sells into the fast-food industry, food manufacturing sector and into wholesale markets, primarily within its home market.
The company notes that, due to having full control over its operations, it has become a trusted partner of world-renowned catering brands. These include KFC and McDonald’s. The company is part-owned by Yum China.
Fujian has ambitious expansion plans and in July 2024 announced its intention to acquire 77.7% of Decheng Agriculture and Animal Husbandry for RMB175 million (US$24.2 million) to expand its production capacity of white-feathered broiler chickens.
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