Chicken Feet, Big Money: How One “Waste Product” Became a Global Trade Story

 

Chicken Feet, Big Money: How One “Waste Product” Became a Global Trade Story

Chicken feet tell a striking story about how the same product can create wildly different levels of value in different markets. In the United States, they are largely treated as low‑value by‑products; in China, they are a sought‑after delicacy that has reshaped poultry‑export economics for Brazil, Russia, and the U.S.

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High demand in China, low value in the U.S.

In China, chicken feet—often called “phoenix talons” (鳳爪)—are a popular snack and dim‑sum ingredient, prized for their gelatinous texture and flavor when braised, steamed, or pickled.​
In contrast, in the U.S., chicken feet are mostly sold only in niche ethnic or specialty markets and otherwise treated almost as waste, often sent to renderers for pennies per pound.

This mismatch creates a powerful arbitrage: a product that is cheap to dispose of in one country becomes a premium food item in another.

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From by‑product to export engine

When the U.S. regained access to the Chinese poultry market in 2019, U.S. producers quickly realized that chicken feet were the real prize, not whole‑bird meat.
By 2024, chicken feet accounted for 73.8% of U.S. poultry exports to China by volume, turning what was once a disposal cost into a major revenue stream.

Exports are highly profitable because chicken feet fetch around $0.80–1.10 per pound in China, compared with roughly $0.05–0.10 per pound when sold to U.S. renderers.
In the first five months of 2021, the U.S. exported 105,000 metric tons of chicken feet worth $254 million, up from 31,000 metric tons worth $39 million in the same period of 2014—a more than sixfold jump in value.

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Market leadership and shifting shares

By 2020, the U.S. had become the leading supplier of chicken feet to China, exporting over 201,000 metric tons and generating about $460 million in revenue, roughly 44.8% of the market.
However, by 2024, Brazil had overtaken the U.S. as China’s largest chicken‑feet supplier, capturing about 42% of China’s imports, while Russia rose to second place with 22% and the U.S. slipped to fourth with 10%.

Russia’s role has grown dramatically: its exports of chicken feet to China surged 377% between 2019 and 2024, reaching $311 million in value.
This reflects both China’s insatiable appetite for the product and the ability of other countries to step in when U.S. access is constrained by disease‑related bans or tariffs.

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Why size and quality matter

Chinese buyers particularly favor larger chicken feet, which tend to come from the bigger, slower‑growing birds raised in the U.S. and some other export markets.
Industry sources note that international restaurants and processors prefer U.S. “jumbo” paws for their better mouthfeel and perceived quality, reinforcing the premium pricing.

At the same time, Brazil and Russia have expanded processing capacity and logistics to supply frozen paws, gaining share as China’s overall chicken‑feet imports rose toward $2.3 billion in 2023 and beyond.

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A lesson in product‑value arbitrage

The chicken‑feet trade illustrates how a single product can occupy very different tiers of value across markets. In the U.S., it is a low‑value by‑product; in China, it is a higher‑value food item than regular chicken meat in many contexts.
For producers, this means that re‑positioning a “waste” product for the right market can turn marginal scraps into a core profit center.

As trade rules, tariffs, and disease‑related bans shift, the story of chicken feet will continue to show how geography, culture, and regulation can all reshape what a product is worth—and who ends up profiting most from it.