26 October 2026, Santa Catarina, Brazil: A Newcastle disease outbreak on a small turkey farm in southern Brazil has triggered poultry import restrictions in five countries, including China and Mexico, putting a dent in the trade of the world’s largest chicken exporter just as Northern Hemisphere holiday-season demand builds.
Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry confirmed the disease on October 18 at a commercial turkey operation holding about 6,000 birds in Nova Itaberaba, a municipality in western Santa Catarina state. Samples had been collected on September 21, with an initial laboratory analysis on October 14 ahead of final confirmation four days later. The ministry quarantined the farm, halted bird movements in the area and is monitoring 133 poultry establishments across four municipalities, Nova Itaberaba, Águas Frias, Coronel Freitas and Nova Erechim, for a 42-day surveillance window. A federal sanitary emergency decree is planned for the affected zone, and the farm will be culled, cleaned and disinfected.
China limits ban to one state, others go further
Newcastle disease is a highly contagious viral infection of birds that does not affect humans but can devastate flocks and trigger trade bans, since most countries require disease-free certification for poultry imports. China, Brazil’s top single-country poultry buyer, agreed to limit its restriction to Santa Catarina rather than impose a nationwide ban, following negotiation with Brazil’s government under the terms of their existing trade protocol. Agriculture Minister André de Paula’s ministry said Chile and Saudi Arabia also restricted purchases from Santa Catarina specifically.
Mexico and Malaysia went further, suspending poultry imports from all of Brazil. Mexico’s government said the broader suspension was precautionary, since Mexico has no Newcastle disease in its own flocks and wants to keep it that way. Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry has not disclosed when any of the restrictions might be lifted, and the exact scope of China’s limitation, including whether it covers only commercial poultry meat or extends to live birds and other products, was still being finalised as of this week.
The numbers at stake are significant. Santa Catarina alone accounts for roughly 15% of Brazil’s total poultry production and about 23% of the country’s chicken exports through September this year. China took in close to 420,000 tonnes of Brazilian poultry between January and September, around 10% of Brazil’s total poultry exports for the period, according to figures cited by Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry. Ricardo Santin, president of the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA), the industry’s main lobby group, has been involved in talks over how the trade protocol with China applies in this case.
This is not Brazil’s first brush with the disease. A Newcastle case in Anta Gorda, in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, in July 2024 led around 44 destination markets to impose restrictions, and China’s nationwide embargo stemming from that outbreak was only lifted this past January, a reminder that even geographically contained outbreaks can have long trade tails. Brazil’s government appears to be trying to avoid a repeat of that broader, longer-lasting shutdown by moving quickly to ring-fence the latest case to Santa Catarina and keep the rest of the country’s exports flowing.
Why a Brazilian turkey farm matters well beyond Brazil
Brazil ships poultry to more than 150 countries and has built its position as the world’s top chicken exporter partly on a reputation for tight animal health controls, so outbreaks like this one draw outsized attention from importing governments even when, as here, they are confined to a single small farm. Buyers in the Middle East, East Asia and Latin America who rely on competitively priced Brazilian chicken and turkey will be watching whether more countries follow Mexico and Malaysia’s nationwide approach rather than China’s narrower one, since that would tighten global supply more broadly heading into the year-end demand season.
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