Saudi Arabia now raises two-thirds of the chicken it eats

Claim types Fact

USDA FAS PSD, Meat, Chicken: production and domestic consumption (1,000 t, ready-to-cook), data as of 2026-10, US government work, read from USDA PSD via the progrss vault (loaded from apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline; vault rule GUIDELINES §4.11). USDA chicken market years are calendar years. Share raised at home = production ÷ domestic consumption, summed over three years, progrss calculation; it can top 100% where a country exports more than it imports (China). Set: the 12 countries with the largest chicken imports in 2014–16 in USDA PSD; the United Kingdom (third) is left out because USDA reported it inside the EU until it left, so it has no full 2014–16 series; the EU, reported by USDA as one bloc, is not a country and is not in the set. Saudi Arabia, thousand tonnes, 2014–16 vs 2022–24 totals: production 2,222 vs 3,375; consumption 4,621 vs 4,984; imports averaged 829 vs 588 a year. Iraq: production 427 vs 1,040, consumption 2,294 vs 2,652. Others, 2014–16 vs 2022–24: Japan 63.8% vs 62.1%, Mexico 80.6% vs 80.0%, South Africa 79.0% vs 84.7%, United Arab Emirates 12.5% vs 12.7%, China 100.7% vs 100.0%, Hong Kong 2.0% vs 1.9%, Russia 94.7% vs 98.2%, Angola 9.4% vs 15.1%, Philippines 85.7% vs 75.8%, Cuba 11.1% vs 2.8%. USDA's Saudi production series steps up 45% between 2013 and 2014; the comparison starts after that step. Saudi Arabia's share was 50.4% in 2014 and rose in most years since; USDA's 2025 estimate is 70.2% and its 2026 forecast 73.7% (not charted).