Alexandre Rocha
São Paulo – All Perdigão (a large Brazilian food product producer) chicken production units are certified according to Islamic standards. Accustomed to exporting to Arab countries, the company now has its eyes turned to other countries with Muslim populations.
"All units are prepared accordingly", explained company export director Antonio Augusto De Toni in an interview to ANBA. Islamic butchering takes place some days of the week, which vary from factory to factory and according to demand. The process is always followed by an inspector and executed by bleeders, all Muslim.
Toni went on to say that the company decided to certify all six chicken production units for halal butchering in the 1980s not only due to Middle Eastern weight on company revenue, but also because other markets, mainly in Asia, started requiring Islamic certification, guaranteeing consumption by Muslim consumers.
"Singapore, for example, where 20% of the population is Islamic, demands Halal certification. Apart from that, future markets, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, also make this demand. There is even a Chinese Islamic region, and certification is required for that area", he stated.
Production line hooks must be turned to Mecca at bleeding time, something guaranteed with the use of a compass. The bleeder kills the birds with a sharp knife, in a half moon cut, saying: "In the name of Allah!" On the factory walls there are signs with Arabic sayings: "In the name of Allah!" and "Allah is great".
Middle East
In the first half of 2003, the Middle East has been responsible for 20.2% of Perdigão export revenue. In this period, the company exported 229,400 tons of products – among chicken, pork and derivatives – totaling US$ 281.4 million. De Toni says that the company exports around 45% of production, but intends to have reached over 50% by the end of 2003.
Of the Arab countries, Perdigão sells to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, and Somalia. Albeit De Toni pointed out that the main markets are Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, and Yemen. He went on to say that Egypt protects local production by imposing tariff barriers against Brazilian chicken, so export to that country are irregular. The company has an office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The executive also pointed out that sales to Iraq restarted 20 days after the end of the war promoted by the United States and Great Britain, and that this year sales to Iraq have already totaled 2,000 tons of chicken, or US$ 2 million.
The main products purchased by Arab countries, says De Toni, are complete chickens, chicken pieces, and some processed products, such as sausages and battered products. The executive stressed that the Middle East is currently the third Perdigão market abroad, losing only to Europe and Asia. "We currently sell around 11,000 tons a month to the Arab countries, a total of around US$ 13 million. Europe corresponds to one third of our sales abroad. The Middle East is in third place, and we sell a large volume to the region", he explained.
While he believes that total company export should rise by 10% in 2004, sales to the Middle East should grow by only about 5%. To the executive, so as to increase Brazilian sales in the region, "modernization" of local consumption habits must take place. It is necessary for consumers to buy products with greater aggregate value, such as pieces "on trays, seasoned and battered".
"We already sell large quantities of turkey and chicken sausages to the Middle East, but battered products sell very little. We will put greater emphasis on processed product sales to the region", says the executive.
Other markets
"The market that currently grows most is Europe, where there is being a structural change. They are leaving the more basic products and are migrating to products with greater aggregate value. Asia is in the second place, with Japan being the largest market in the region", explained De Toni.
Exports to Europe are mainly chicken breasts, cooked breasts, processed products, sausages, and hamburgers. Chicken legs without bones are sold to Japan. To the rest of Asia the main export includes chicken wings and feet, and to Honk Kong and Singapore the company also exports pork.
Another important market is "Eurasia", which includes Russia. To that region the company exports pork, complete chicken, chicken legs with bones and processed products. To the Mercosur and the Caribbean, Perdigão mainly sells chicken and pork pieces and processed products. Chester (a company brand poultry product), one of the main products in Brazil, is exported only to Spain, and in low quantities. Abroad, Perdigão trades under the brand "Perdix".
History
Apart from its commercial importance, the Middle Eastern market is of historical relevance to Brazil. De Toni explains that Brazilian chicken was first exported to the Middle East. "It was the first market open to our chicken", he says. Perdigão started exporting there in 1974.
He explains that currently Brazil is the main chicken supplier to the Arab market, and that this has been achieved, in part, due to the drop in French chicken export, the main competitor. "Brazil is taking the French place due to subsidy reductions after the Gatt (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) agreement. There are still subsidies, but they are dropping yearly, so is French export", he stated.
Profile
Perdigão profit in the first half of 2003 was US$ 686.8 million, with export totaling US$ 281.4 million. In 2002 revenue was US$ 1.163 billion, being US$ 419.8 million related to foreign trade. The company currently employs 26,503 people, and apart from six chicken production units, the company also has seven plants for industrialization of other meats.
From January to September 2003, Brazil has exported 1.431 million tons of chicken, totaling US$ 1.3 billion, 440,000 tons of this total went to the Middle East. The country produced 7.517 million tons of chicken last year, and exports to over 100 countries. According to the head of the Brazilian Poultry Exporters Association (Abef), Julio Cardoso, Brazilian production and export volumes are only smaller than those of the United States. Perdigão operates in 80 countries.
