Great Britain in 2027 may approach the entire market of the European Union in terms of the volume of purchases of Ukrainian chicken meat, while the importance of the countries of the Middle East for Ukrainian exporters will decrease, predicts the Kyiv office of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA FAS).
In the Poultry and Products Annual report, published on August 19, 2026, Great Britain was named as one of the main factors of growth of Ukrainian production and export of chicken meat in 2026-2027.
On January 16, 2026, Ukraine and Great Britain agreed to extend the regime of duty-free trade in chicken meat and a number of other agricultural products until March 31, 2028. At the same time, Great Britain does not set a tariff quota for Ukrainian chicken by the specified deadline.
According to the USDA, this actually provides Ukrainian producers with almost two additional years of unlimited access to one of the world's most attractive markets in terms of price. In some months, sale prices of Ukrainian chicken in Great Britain were even higher than in the EU.
As a result, FAS/Kyiv expects a further sharp increase in supplies to Great Britain. In 2027, their volume may become comparable to all Ukrainian chicken exports to the EU.
At the same time, the European Union remains the largest premium market for the industry, but supplies are limited by a new permanent duty-free quota of 120,000 tons per year.
The new quota was agreed upon by Ukraine and the EU in October 2025. It replaced the pre-war permanent quota of 90,000 tons and the temporary regime of autonomous trade measures, which made it possible to supply much larger volumes. The USDA expects that in 2026-2027, actual exports to the EU will be at the level of the established limit of 120,000 tons.
The expansion of supplies to Great Britain and the EU is already changing the geography of Ukrainian exports.
The turnaround in the Middle East is particularly noticeable. The USDA reports that in 2026 the supply of Ukrainian chicken to Saudi Arabia, which used to be Ukraine's largest single export market for this product, has completely ceased.
This happened despite MHP's long-standing relationship with Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC), which owns 13% of MHP. At the same time, the USDA allows the return of Ukrainian products to the Saudi market in the following years.
Deliveries to Iraq, on the contrary, continue. The USDA separately notes that Ukraine did not fall under the ban imposed by Iraq on the import of chicken from 39 major supplier countries due to the risks of highly pathogenic bird flu.
Ukrainian producers also maintain a presence in the markets of Africa and the countries of the former USSR, but the most profitable European destinations are gradually taking part of their products.
Exports through Turkey are mainly of a transit nature: according to USDA industry sources, most of the Ukrainian poultry arriving there is later re-exported to Asia or Africa. At the same time, the free trade agreement between Ukraine and Turkey, which will enter into force in 2026, provides for a separate duty-free quota for 2 thousand tons of raw and processed poultry products.
In general, according to the current assessment of FAS/Kyiv, the export of chicken meat from Ukraine will increase from about 450 thousand tons in 2025 to 490 thousand tons in 2026 and 530 thousand tons in 2027.
Thus, one of the main changes in the next two years will be the further reorientation of Ukrainian poultry farming to Great Britain and the EU at the expense of part of the traditional markets of the Middle East and Asia.
Primary source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Ukraine: Poultry and Products Annual, UP2026-0022, August 19 2026.
