São Paulo – Brazil has shipped 114,039 tonnes of beef to Middle East and North Africa countries in the first half of this year. The volume is up 18.4% from H1 last year. Revenues were up 22.66% to US$ 732.705 million. The figures were supplied by the Association of Brazilian Beef Exporters (Abiec).
The Arab country to which Brazilian beef exports increased the most in H1 was Egypt, up 33.32% to 71,841 tonnes. Revenues from exports to Egypt were up 34.96% to US$ 246.025 million.
“The increase was a consequence of market opportunities, higher consumption and higher income,” Abiec chairman Antônio Camardelli said regarding the hike in exports to the North African country. According to him, the same holds true of the remaining Arab countries.
Algeria, for instance, imported 11,371 tonnes of the product in H1, up 24.29% from H1 last year. Revenues from Brazilian beef exports to Algeria stood at US$ 53.164 million, up 27.65%. Exports to the United Arab Emirates were up 28.88% to 9,614 tonnes, and revenues were up 26.34% to US$ 46.670 million.
Exports to Lebanon were up 12.33% to 8,361 tonnes and revenues from said exports were up 16.56% to US$ 43.653 million. “We have secured a steady foothold in the Arab countries, and we do not allow political events to contaminate commercial demand,” Camardelli said.
Saudi embargo
To Camardelli, the main pending matter as pertains to beef exports to Arab countries is the embargo against Brazilian product in Saudi Arabia, in place since December 2012.
The embargo was enacted following the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture’s disclosure that the mad cow disease causative agent was detected in an animal that died in 2010. The bovine, however, did not die as a result of the disease, which it did not develop.
The Abiec chairman notes that Brazil has submitted all necessary documentation attesting that Brazilian cattle is free from mad cow disease, but still the Gulf country’s government will not lift the ban or inform what other measures are required in order for Brazilian beef purchases to be cleared.
“We can no longer live with this grey area that Saudi Arabia has created,” he claimed. The executive also pointed out that Kuwait and Qatar have followed on the footsteps of the Saudis. “It is a technical problem which has been overcome, and we don’t even have the chance to receive instructions as to how to resume exporting,” he complained.
Camardelli stressed that the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has attested on three different occasions that Brazilian beef is not contaminated with the mad cow disease causative agent. “What has happened was an atypical case,” he said. “Brazil guarantees and assures that there is no chance for the disease to occur,” he asserted.
On Thursday (17th), the Chinese government announced the lifting of the embargo it also had in place against beef from Brazil. “There is going to be a gradual increase,” Camardelli said regarding sales to China. “We hope that by the end of 2015, China will be importing US$ 800 million a year,” he hoped.
In H1, Brazil exported a total of 762,000 tonnes of beef, up 12.7% from H1 2013. Revenues amounted to US$ 3.4 billion, up 13.3% from the same period last year. The leading buyers of Brazilian beef were Hong Kong, Russia and Venezuela.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
