São Paulo – Born in São Bento do Una, Pernambuco, Diógenes Braga already had more than 20 years of experience as a supplier to agribusiness companies when he decided to found DEP Export. Focused on exporting poultry products, after two years searching for an ideal international destination, the company turned to Mauritania. According to DEP Export, this marked the first shipment of eggs from Brazil’s Northeast to the Arab country.
“I founded the company with two partners in early 2024. At that time, we wanted to sell chicken and eggs, but after studying the local market, we understood the potential that Pernambuco—where our company is based—had for egg sales. We decided to start with this segment first,” says Diógenes Braga, CEO of DEP Export.
“Initially, when the company was prospecting countries with purchasing potential, the United States was the first option, but due to the tariff hike, we dropped it, continued prospecting, and came across West African countries such as Sierra Leone and Mauritania.”
Although Mauritania ranks 23rd among the main destinations for Brazilian egg exports, according to the latest annual report by the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA), Diógenes says the Arab country holds strong potential.
“As they had already purchased Brazilian eggs from the South and Southeast regions, there was already a pathway open for our company. In addition, there was significant demand,” the businessman says.
“Even though Pernambuco has the fourth-largest poultry flock in Brazil, it had been underexplored in terms of egg exports and had everything needed to compete with products from other regions, including in Mauritania,” he recalls.
By betting on competitive prices and investing in sanitary quality, company infrastructure, and flock standards, three farms, together with DEP Export, managed to export their eggs to the northwestern African country for the first time.
“Last month, the company was shipping two to three containers of eggs per week to Sierra Leone and Mauritania, with 70% going to Sierra Leone. But in April, this changed. This month, we closed monthly sales of just one container to Sierra Leone and eight containers to Mauritania. Now that they are familiar with Northeastern products, they are closing more and more deals,” says the Pernambuco native.
Future of exports
DEP Export is currently negotiating new egg shipments to Mauritania on a month-to-month basis, with the next one scheduled for May. The products reach Mauritanian consumers through a local distributor that partners with the Brazilian company.
“Our plan is definitely to expand the market—not only with eggs, but also with other poultry products from Pernambuco and other Northeastern states. We have excellent broiler companies here, so in the near future we want to sell this production base to other Arab countries beyond Mauritania,” says Diógenes.
Although Brazil already has many chicken exporters to the Middle East and North Africa, the veterinarian says the Northeast is ready to compete domestically.
“DEP was created precisely so we could break new ground in exporting poultry products from our region. In March, the first deal was completed, with eggs from Pernambuco exported to Mauritania for the first time. Now we want to expand into chicken sales. And I believe the Northeast will stand out for the quality of its products,” he explains.
“Companies in the region have improved significantly in recent years, and beyond that, production costs have dropped considerably. Until recently, our production costs were much higher than in the South, but now we are more competitive.”
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Report by Rebecca Vettore, in collaboration with ANBA
