Isaura Daniel
São Paulo – Brazilian export of hatching eggs rose 85% in the first five months of this year. Brazil had revenues of US$ 1.6 million in the period with sales on the international market, against US$ 904,000 in the same months last year. Hatching eggs are shipped to the country of destination, where they are incubated until they hatch.
Saudi Arabia was the largest buyer of the product from Brazil between January and May this year, purchasing 23% of the total. Import from the Arab country rose fourfold, in contrast to the same period last year, reaching US$ 387,000.
"Brazil entered a space left open by Holland, a great supplier of the Middle East," stated the executive secretary of the Brazilian Meat Chicken Association (Apinco), José Carlos Godoy. The European country had its export to the country stopped between the end of last year and the beginning of this year due to avian flu.
The fact that Holland left the international hatching egg market, incidentally, generated price increases. Between January and May last year, the price per dozen of exported eggs was US$ 0.27. This year the price has risen to US$ 0.42 per dozen.
A large part of the fertilized eggs traded by Brazil on the foreign market are for chicken destined to slaughter. Holland not only supplies this kind of product, but the country also sells eggs with high genetic value, turned to reproduction.
Companies come together to export
The volume of fertilized eggs exported by Brazil is still small, but the tendency is to rise. "Brazil is working on more effective participation on the foreign fertilized egg market for meat chickens," stated the egg and reproductive chicken director at the Brazilian Poultry Association (UBA), João Aidar Filho.
Six Brazilian companies from the South and Southeast that already export individually should establish, within the next two months, a company turned to the export of hatching eggs for meat production. The new trading company, created with the support of the Apinco, will be called Brazil Hatching Eggs (BRHE). According to Godoy, the initial target is to export one million eggs per week.
If the objective comes true, there should be a significant increase in Brazilian export in the sector. In the first five months of this year, the country sold 3.9 million hatching eggs, according to figures supplied by the Foreign Trade Secretariat. In the whole of last year export totalled 13.6 million units. Businessmen and leaders in the sector believe that there is space for growth. "The market is buying," stated Godoy.
Import
Apart from exporting hatching eggs, Brazil also imports the product. Purchases, however, are of eggs to produce chickens for reproduction, called grandmothers and great-grandmothers, which are more expensive. The researcher of the Poultry Division of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), Valdir Silveira de Ávila, stated that almost 100% of the chicken lineages in Brazil come from abroad.
The largest Brazilian supplier in the sector is the United States. Brazil paid around US$ 12 per dozen of these eggs between January and May this year, and spent a total of US$ 4.4 million in purchases.
