Alexandre Rocha
São Paulo – Brazilian chicken export to the Arab countries rose 32.89% in the first 15 days of January, when compared to the same period last year. Revenues generated through shipping totalled US$ 40.21 million, according to information provided by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB). The Middle East is the largest market for Brazilian poultry abroad.
In the evaluation of the president of the Brazilian Poultry Exporters Association (Abef), Julio Cardoso, an increase in sales to the Arabs cannot be considered a reflex of the occurrence of sanitary problems in five exporter countries, with the cases of avian flu in Asia, and one case of mad cow disease in the United States, at the end of last year.
According to him, the figure variation in the first days of the year is due to orders that piled up in December and were transferred to January "due to logistics reasons."
He believes that positive effects on Brazilian export to the Arab countries due to sanitary problems should not appear in the short term. "Products destined to the Arab market, with halal slaughter within the Islamic rules, is produced completely separate and in a different manner from chicken destined to Europe and Asia. There should therefore not be direct impact," stated Cardoso to ANBA by e-mail.
Sorrow for some, glee for others
However, Cardoso stated that the sanitary problems in other countries have already increased the demand for Brazilian poultry in global terms, especially in Japan and Europe, a fact that should generate an increase in domestic production.
Another factor that may provide an impulse to export is the European Union (EU) relaxation of import restrictions to Brazilian chicken. The EU will start testing just 20% of the chickens purchased from Brazil for the presence of an antibiotic prohibited on that continent, instead of all the products shipped, as occurs nowadays.
"We believe that Brazil has a capacity to supply to all these markets," stated the Abef president. According to him, the country is going to produce around 8 million tonnes of chicken this year, and export a total of 2.2 million tonnes. Last year export totalled 1.958 million tons of whole chickens, chicken pieces, and industrialized chicken.
On Monday (02), after an Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply Ministry meeting, Cardoso said that the occurrence of avian flu in Asia represents "a great opportunity to Brazilian poultry." The Agriculture Ministry executive secretary, Amauri Dimarzio, added that Japanese and South Korean businessmen interested in buying Brazilian chicken will be visiting the country within the next few days.
Prevention
However, producers and the government do not intend to sit and watch the sorrow of others. During the meeting, it was agreed that a campaign for prevention of the disease should be created. Among the measures to be adopted are the installation of foot washers at airports and ports.
During the meeting a group to develop the campaign and present their suggestions to Dimarzio on Thursday (5) was set up. Among the proposals the executive secretary himself proposed are the elaboration of a document with questions and answers regarding chicken flu, to be handed to the population, the publication of a "technical summary" for the productive chain, the strengthening of technician qualification programs to fight against the disease, and the revision of poultry sanitary legislation.
Although no cases of the disease have been registered in Brazil, and Dimarzio believes that the chance of it getting to the country is "practically zero," he stated that additional measures are necessary to eliminate any possibility of this happening.
