Alexandre Rocha*
alexandre.rocha@anba.com.br
São Paulo – The minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Algeria, Said Barkat, learnt yesterday (6th) a little about the Brazilian cattle beef productive chain. He travelled to the city of Lins, in the interior of the state of São Paulo, and visited a farm belonging to Bertin group, where there is an artificial insemination centre and a slaughterhouse. Halal slaughter was taking place there, in accordance with Muslim requirements.
According to the advisor to the foreign relations secretariat at the Ministry of Agriculture of Brazil, Rui Samarcos Lora, who accompanied the visit, the minister met with directors at the group and invited them to Algeria in search of partnerships with local companies. Lora added that Barkat also spoke about genetic improvement of animals and about the possibility of his country buying the semen of Brazilian bulls.
"But the talks were not focussed just on that, he also mentioned opportunities for expansion of business in the area," said the advisor. The theme of the meeting was in the lines of what Barkat said on Monday at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and at the Brazilian Beef Industry and Exporters Association (Abiec). He wants companies in the agribusiness sector to invest in Algeria and use the country as an export platform to the countries in Africa and Europe.
The minister, according to Lora, made questions about halal certification – he was accompanied by a member of the Federation of Muslim Associations of Brazil (Fambras), which is responsible for halal certification – and Bertin directors explained how the meat packing plant operates. Márcio Caparroz, from the Abiec, also accompanied the visit.
Bertin is one of the main Brazilan meat packing plants, but the group operates in several areas, like production of cosmetics, leather, safety shoes, cleaning products, products for animal feeding, civil construction, basic sanitation, highway concession, energy generation and hotel management. The company recently entered the biodiesel sector.
The slaughterhouse already exports to the Arab market, including Algeria. This year the company participated in the Gulfood, the main food sector fair in the Middle East, which took place in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. The group, according to its internet page, has 30 production units and 30,000 employees.
Dairy
Today minister Barkat is going to continue visiting agroindustries. He is in the city of Uberlândia, in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, where he is going to visit the installations of Itambé, a dairy product factory that has 27 associated cooperatives, 8,000 suppliers and 2,800 employees, according to the company itself.
This evening he will head to Brazilian capital Brasília, where he will meet tomorrow with representatives of the National Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA). He is also scheduled to meet the ministers of Agricuture, Reinhold Stephanes, and Agrarian Development, Guilherme Cassel.
Meat and milk are among the main products imported by Algeria from Brazil. From January to September this year, according to the Abiec, the country purchased 61,000 tonnes of Brazilian cattle beef, which generated revenues of US$ 81.1 million. In the same period, the country imported the equivalent to US$ 23.2 million in powdered milk and other dairy products from Brazil.
*Translated by Mark Ament
