China’s poultry sector is growing steadily, driven by strong demand, lower feed costs, and government support for self-sufficiency, while major producers expand and imports diversify to meet consumer preferences.
The Chinese poultry sector is steadily growing thanks to a stable demand and consumption, which stimulates local farmers to expand their capacities.
The recent trade wars between the US and China resulted in a significant decline in imports to China and affected the country’s poultry market. In contrast to the previous years, the trade disputes with the US forced the Chinese authorities to pay more attention to the development of domestic poultry sector. That also involves a more active search for alternative suppliers. In general, since the beginning of 2025, the diversification of supplies in the field of poultry has become one of the priority goals for the Chinese authorities, while the government plans to continue implementation of this policy in years to come.
Major progress
Overall, since the beginning of the 2020s, the Chinese poultry sector has achieved significant progress. An official spokesman for Han Jun, the Chinese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said in an exclusive interview, China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of poultry and plans to retain its status in years to come. According to the Ministry, this is despite the ongoing volatility in the global markets and a new wave of tariff wars.
The current situation in the Chinese poultry sector remains stable, while the market is largely dominated by broiler chickens. According to data from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics and Ministry of Agriculture, China’s broiler headcount amounted to 15.5–16 billion in 2025, with total production reaching 28.37 million tons of poultry meat (+6.7% vs. 2024). Chicken now accounts for over 20% of per capita meat consumption in the country, while these figures continue to grow.
Largest players looking for expansion
In terms of market structure, among the leading local players are Wens Foodstuff Group, Lihua Group, Xiangjia Group, Dekang Group, and Liyuan Group. In 2025, their total broiler output exceeded 1 billion birds, with the combined market share estimated at 57%.
In recent years, many of the leading local players have announced their plans for further expansion in the domestic market.
As for Wens Foodstuff Group, the company currently remains a major player in the market with annual sales of up to 600 million broiler chickens per year and the annual growth rates of 9–10%.
Founded in 1983 as a small Leizhou chicken farm, the company has since become a leading player in China’s poultry sector. In recent years the company has expanded cooperation with several global companies to ensure a stable supply of raw materials for its needs. For this purpose, Wens recently signed a strategic agreement with Cargill Investment, the Chinese subsidiary of the US company Cargill. The agreement gives Wens an opportunity to optimize its feed supply chain and improve efficiency.
As Sun Fen, Vice President and Minister of Procurement Center of Wens Foodstuff Group, told during the press conference following the signing of the agreement, Wens has high hopes for its future collaboration with Cargill, as it will ensure a stable supply of raw materials.
In the meantime, Lihua Group, another major player in the Chinese poultry sector, also considers the acceleration of expansion in the domestic market this year. The company showed positive dynamics in 2025, demonstrating strong growth momentum with 260 million chickens sold, representing an 11% increase over 2024. It currently focuses on operations in the chilled yellow-feather chicken segment. In recent years it has significantly strengthened its positions in this segment and now ranks among the leading local players.
As the Chinese Xinhua media announced earlier, citing the company, last year it achieved strong results in the domestic market. According to official data, it processed approximately 90 million fresh chicken products in 2025, accounting for about 15.87% of total chicken sales volume in China last year. As the company’s spokesman said, this represents a year-over-year increase of approximately 50%, compared to 2024.
Analysts from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs believe the current success of both Wens and Lihua in the domestic market is mainly due to the companies’ production and development strategies, which have been introduced by their managements in recent years. According to the Ministry’s analysts, this involves the innovative “company + farmer” model, which allows both companies to organically combine their technological, financial, and market advantages with farmers’ breeding resources. This integration ensures the development of a close and efficient supply chain, in which companies implement strict management of the breeding process, controlling every detail from feed selection to disease prevention, thus ensuring product quality and supply stability.
In the meantime, Ministry analysts also believe the rise of large-scale farming will remain one of the major drivers for growth of the poultry sector of China. In major poultry-producing areas such as Shandong and Guangdong, the “company + farmer” model has effectively integrated the resources of small and medium-sized farmers. For example, Fujian Sunner Development Co., Ltd. remains the world’s largest broiler chicken industrial park, with an annual output exceeding 500 million birds.
Future prospects
Regarding future prospects, much will also depend on future trends in feed costs for Chinese poultry farmers. The recent decline in feed costs has had a positive impact on China’s poultry industry (with the sharpest drops observed in corn and soybean meal prices), but it remains unclear whether these trends will continue throughout 2026.
According to official data from the Chinese government, broiler compound feed costs dropped to 3.67 yuan/kg in the second half of 2025, the lowest level in nearly five years. This resulted in higher profits for local poultry farmers.
Plans for imports
Despite a significant increase in domestic production, China continues to import certain volumes of poultry going forward.
As Chinese consumers increasingly favor specific poultry cuts, the country is actively seeking to expand its poultry import portfolio with products whose domestic production remains relatively limited.
As part of this strategy, China recently reached an agreement with the Georgian government to import chicken legs and necks, products that remain in high demand among Chinese consumers. This move reflects China’s ongoing strategy to diversify poultry import sources and to avoid any dependence on a single major supplier.
According to Zurab Uchumbegashvili, Head of the Georgian Poultry Development Association, the agreement aligns well with China’s consumption trends, as chicken legs and necks, while undervalued in Georgia, are highly prized in China.
