São Paulo – Brazil exported less beef to the Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa in the first quarter of this year. From January to March 2013, shipments abroad totalled 54,820 tonnes of product to the region, a 9% lower volume than in the same period last year. Export revenues totalled US$ 223.8 million, 18.28% less than in the first three months of 2012.
“Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait are countries that officially placed embargos against Brazilian beef after the atypical case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as mad cow disease) in Paraná, announced in December last year. In terms of volume, Saudi Arabia is the most important and the country that weighed most heavily in the general reduction in the volume exported to the region,” said Fernando Sampaio, executive director at the Brazilian Beef Industry and Exporters Association (Abiec).
“The Ministry of Agriculture officially invited Saudi sanitary authorities to visit Brazil last week so that the embargo could be removed, resulting in the Gulf countries ending their restrictions,” said the executive. “It is a priority to recover the market in Saudi Arabia, we must revert this embargo,” said Sampaio.
In the first quarter of 2012, Saudi Arabia imported 7,810 tonnes of Brazilian beef, generating US$ 36.44 million in revenues. In the same period of this year, there were just 25 tonnes, with revenues of US$ 56,730. Qatar and Bahrain did not import beef from Brazil in the early months of this year.
Egypt was the main Arab buyer of Brazilian beef in the period, with 19,900 tonnes. This way, the volume exported to the country in North Africa represented reduction of 18.52% in comparison with the first three months of 2012. Revenues, which reached US$ 67.35 million, dropped 31.86%.
Libya imported 4,560 tonnes of beef from Brazil in the first three months of 2013, a 13.9% smaller volume than in the same quarter in 2012. Revenues, which totalled US$ 22.63 million from January to March last year dropped to US$ 17.01 million in the first quarter of this year, a reduction of 24.85%. “With Egypt and Libya there were temporary interruptions in exports until further information about the case (in Paraná) were exchanged by both countries, but trade has already been normalized,” said the director at Abiec.
Growth
Despite the general drop, the first quarter of the year also presented growth of beef exports to some Arab countries, like Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Algeria.
In the first three months of 2013, Jordan bought 3,900 tonnes of beef from Brazil, 72.78% more than in the same period last year. Revenues grew 42.24%, reaching US$ 15.31 million. To the Emirates, there was growth of 44.82% in volume (3,290 tonnes) and 20.22% in revenues (US$ 17.22 million). To Algeria, shipments totalled 3,700 tonnes of beef (+23.65%), with revenues of US$ 16.66 million (up 10.38%).
“The demand in the Arab countries is on the rise,” said Sampaio. “There has also been a reduction in the price, due to exchange rates, so we have returned to being more competitive,” he said.
*Translated by Mark Ament
