São Paulo – Brazilian beef export revenues stood at US$ 2.5 billion from January through May this year, up 15% from the same period in 2012, according to figures released by the Brazilian Meat Exporting Industries Association (Abiec). In the first five months of 2012, revenues amounted to US$ 2.1 billion. The volume shipped has also grown, by 22.57%, to 562,000 tonnes.
The leading foreign market for Brazilian beef was Hong Kong, up 63% to 142,300 tonnes shipped. The second leading buyer was Russia, at 132,400 tonnes, and the third was the European Union at 50,400 tonnes. Venezuela ranks fourth, Chile ranks fifth and Egypt ranks sixth. Among the Arab countries, Lebanon is one of the ten major buying countries, in the tenth position, having imported 6,600 tonnes.
“We were pleased with the Brazilian beef industry figures in the first five months of 2013. We have seen good results and are quite optimistic that we will be able to expand in several major markets in the near future, including the European Union and several Asian countries,” explains the Abiec chairman Antônio Jorge Camardelli.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
