São Paulo – Iraq will resume importing frozen and canned beef from Brazil, which it had lifted. The end of the embargo was announced on Monday evening (2nd) in a statement from the Brazilian Ministry of External Affairs.
“The reopening of the Iraqi market, the outcome of joint efforts from the Brazilian ministries of External Relations and Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, attests to the quality of Brazilian product and the effectiveness of national sanitary inspection, which other buying countries have already recognized. Thus being, Iraq should once again take its place as a major destination for Brazilian beef exports,” the foreign ministry statement reads. The measure was taken by the Iraqi Ministry of Health.
According to the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, exports to Iraq were banned since 2012 as a result of two atypical cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), aka mad cow disease in Brazil. One case was recorded in 2012 in Paraná state, and the other in 2014 in Mato Grosso.
Just to give an idea of the size of the market, Brazilian frozen beef exports to Iraq stood at US$ 23.4 million in 2012, before the ban. In the case of processed beef, Brazil exported US$ 1.827 million to Iraq in 2011, and US$ 543,500 in 2012. The data is provided by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC).
The beef products to be exported are required to be healthy and to have originated from animals that did not feed on meat-and-bone meal, dry animal fat, or ruminant-derived protein. Brazilian herds are not fed with foodstuffs of animal origin. The meat also can’t be mechanically de-boned or come from animals older than 30 months.
The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce CEO, Michel Alaby, has said the new development is “welcome” and could cause exports from Brazil to Iraq to increase. He remarked, however, that the measure has little influence on other countries with embargoes on Brazilian beef still in place.
The Gulf countries often mirror the decisions made by Saudi Arabia, which has a ban on Brazilian beef in place due to the mad cow disease case registered in 2012. Saudi Arabia has still not lifted its ban on Brazilian beef.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
