São Paulo – Brazil should own 44.5% of the global meat market in 2020. This should be the result of 37.8% expansion in production. The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply issued a study on the matter on Thursday (4). Apart from meats, the grain crops should grow 36.7% in the period, rising from 129.8 million tonnes in 2008/2009 to 177.5 million tonnes in 2019/2020. The expectation is for this increase to be stimulated mainly by the domestic market, in a scenery in which crops are cultivated in a more and more efficient manner.
"In the case of meats, this expansion is mainly connected to greater income, which results in greater consumption of these products. Up to 2010, expectations are for Brazil to grow at a rate of 5% a year,” explained the general coordinator for Strategic Planning at the Ministry, José Garcia Gasques.
In this scenery, apart from the domestic consumption, expectations are for exports of higher value-added products to rise. "This is the case with sausages. And it should take place in a scenery in which the income and urbanisation are growing worldwide, resulting in greater consumption of these items,” he said. Among the markets that should improve relations with national producers are the Arab nations that, according to Gasques, are a priority in the ministry’s business agenda.
Among the crops, expectations are for 2.7% greater productivity a year until 2020, and 0.45% in the cultivated area. That is, the objective is to plant more and better in less space, with more investment in research and technology. In the case of sugarcane, for example, the states of São Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso and Minas Gerais should stand out. “In Minas, for example, the crop should rise from the current 56 million tonnes a year to 98.2 million tonnes, growth of 75%,” said Gasques.
The second main expansion in crops should be in Paraná: from 55 million tonnes in 2008/2009 to 90.3 million tonnes in 2019/2020, or 63.9% more than today. How will that be possible? "With sugarcane taking over from other cultures that are less profitable than cane, among them peanuts in Paraná, and with the use of areas in Minas Gerais that are not well used in cattle farming,” he explained.
*Translated by Mark Ament
