The Middle East imports the majority of the chicken it consumes, with Brazil the dominant origin and most cargo routed through the Strait of Hormuz to Gulf ports. When that route was effectively disrupted in early March 2026, the Platts CIF Middle East chicken breast assessment moved from $2,320 a tonne in early February to a peak of $3,150 by mid-April — a 36% increase over eight weeks, driven by freight and routing costs rather than any change in supply or demand. This episode traces how that shock travelled through the container freight market, through the poultry benchmark itself, and into a slower-moving story around Brazilian feed and fertilizer costs that could feed back into Middle East import prices in the seasons ahead.
Karan Dadure, associate price reporter covering Middle East poultry markets at S&P Global Energy, joins Arif Islam, Platts price reporter covering shipping freight across the Europe, Middle East, Africa region, and Magdalena Michalik, principal analyst for European proteins at S&P Global Energy, to discuss how the disruption about the Strait of Hormuz repriced Middle East chicken imports, the freight cost dynamics that drove it, and the slower-moving feed and fertilizer story that could shape Brazilian poultry export prices into the 2026-27 season.