São Paulo – Poultry exports grew in revenue and volume last month. According to figures released this Wednesday (1st) by the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA), exports to Egypt and Russia drove the hike in shipments. A total of 359,600 tonnes of poultry was shipped last month, up 19.1% year-on-year in September. Revenue-wise, the surge was 24.3% to US$ 718.8 million.
According to ABPA’s communiqué, the organization’s CEO, Francisco Turra, said the growth in sales is already a consequence of Russia’s higher demand. “Exports jumped from 8,000 tonnes in August to nearly 20,000 in September,” noted Turra.
In August, Russia embargoed beef, pork, poultry, fish, cheese, fruit, milk and vegetables imports from the United States, Canada, Norway, Australia and countries in the European Union. This measure was retaliation to sanctions imposed by these countries against Russia over Ukraine conflict.
Besides Russia, Egypt has started importing more poultry from Brazil, which has also pushed total sales up. “To Egypt, (exports) soared from 4,000 tonnes in August to roughly 13,000 tonnes last month,” said Turra.
Year-to-date
According to ABPA’s results, exports from January through September amounted to 2.965 million tonnes of poultry (which is comprised of chicken cuts, whole chickens, poultry-based processed foods and salted poultry), up 3.5% in volume from equivalent year-ago period.
The revenue grossed from these sales, however, is still below last year figures. Year-to-date through September, exports amounted to US$ 5.882 billion, down 1.8% from equivalent period in 2013. But Turra noted that smaller revenue is actually not bad.
“If we take a look at the 4.6% contraction from January through August, we can observe that the export revenue is picking up in September, fostered by the great performance in the month,” said Turra.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
