São Paulo – Kuwait will start importing beef from Brazil, as per information made public last Thursday (13) night by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA). The sector’s Brazilian industries have waited for this opening for the last seven years, and several representations of the Brazilian government have made attempts with Kuwait officials for it to reopen.
Kuwait shut out to the Brazilian beef in 2013 due to one atypical case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also know as the mad cow disease, that was recorded in Paraná in late 2012. The embargo was lifted in 2015, but exports were not released because the certification and documentation negotiations were still in progress.
Brazil’s minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina, addressed the topic in talks with Kuwait officials last September, when she visited the country as part of a mission to the Middle East attended by businesspeople and representations of organizations. The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce attended, too. In fact, it was expected then that the opening would be announced during the mission.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
