São Paulo – OX Commerce, a Brazilian company specializing in live cattle exports, is in talks to ship live buffaloes to Morocco, an Arab country in North Africa. Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock recently announced, in late October, the opening of the Moroccan market to live buffaloes from Brazil for slaughter.
Information about the ongoing talks with Morocco was provided to ANBA by Seiji Kuroda, Export Manager at OX Commerce. The company is based in Paragominas, Brazil’s Pará state, and was established in February this year with a focus on cattle exports.
“Most of the volume comes from what we have available in Pará’s herds, the Nelore breed,” he said, referring to the breed of cattle shipped overseas.
Morocco is already a destination for live cattle exported by OX Commerce. The animals are purchased by the company in Pará, which has Brazil’s second-largest cattle herd, and shipped to the Moroccan market for slaughter. The Moroccans then carry out the process according to Islamic rules, making the meat halal, meaning it is suitable for Muslim consumption. Morocco has a Muslim-majority population.
Kuroda said Morocco’s demand for live buffaloes reached the company through the same contacts it has in the live cattle market.
“It is a way to diversify the country’s meat supply,” said the OX Commerce Export Manager.
He said the talks are recent and believes the opening of the market will encourage Brazilian buffalo exports to Morocco.
OX Commerce took its request to open the Moroccan market to live buffaloes to Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, initially through contact with Brazil’s agricultural attaché in Morocco, Ellen Laurindo.
“Both the agricultural attaché and the ministry as a whole are very supportive of Brazilian companies,” Kuroda said, highlighting the agricultural attaché’s important role in opening the market.
The state of Pará has Brazil’s largest buffalo herd. Last year, there were about 700,000 animals, according to information provided to ANBA at the time by the Federation of Agriculture and Livestock of the State of Pará (Faepa). Although Brazil as a whole is not a major consumer of buffalo meat, it is widely consumed in Pará. People in Pará raise buffaloes mainly on Marajó Island for meat and milk production, which is also used to make buffalo cheese.
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Translated by Guilherme Miranda
