São Paulo – From January to March, poultry exports totaled 1.017 million tons, down 5.6% over 2017’s Q1, according to the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA). Revenues totaled USD 1.605 billion, a decline of 11.9% in the same comparison.
March also saw a decline in exports. The sector sold abroad 376,600 tons, down 2.2% over 2017’s March, and, in revenues, the decline reached 10% in the same comparison, totaling USD 589.9 million.
In a statement, ABPA’s CEO, Francisco Turra, said that “it was a promising year for the sector, but the sum of increasing production costs and the suspension of plants for exports to the European Union, done by Brazil itself, impacted the quarter’s balance negatively.”
According to Turra, the sector expects that a resume of the exports halted by Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture to the European Union can offset the impact caused by the decline. “The whole situation is about product classification criteria, not risk to consumers,“ he explained. “We trust that the Ministry of Agriculture will speed up this negotiation process with Europe, making it a priority,” he said.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
