The United States government has decided to once again allow raw beef products to be imported into the US from Brazil, a move that has angered some cattlemen and food safety groups who are voicing concerns about the quality of the meat.
Chinese demand is increasingly swallowing up Brazil's beef supply, pushing the country's cattle prices to a record high. China’s hunger for foreign meat has shot up as an outbreak of African swine fever has reduced its domestic pig population and has sent it looking for substitutes.
Brazil and China are expected to hold their first high-level political and economic talks since 2015 later this year, Brazil’s agriculture trade secretary said on Thursday, in a move likely to boost farm trade between the two countries.
Brazilian beef exporters expect shipments to grow 10% in 2018 after rising an estimated 9% this year despite corruption and food safety scandals that temporarily closed off major markets. Trade group Abiec on Thursday said Brazil, the world’s largest beef exporter, would likely sell 1.68 million tons of beef abroad next year, up from 1.53 million tons in 2017. Revenue is expected to rise about 11% to US$6.9 billion in 2018, after a 13% rise this year to US$6.2 billion.
Brazil's beef exports will return close to a record high net year, encouraged by revived growth in the cattle herd, and the industry's success in avoiding lasting bans from importers over a slaughterhouse scandal.
Brazil’s total beef exports in August rose by 34% year-on-year both by volume and in revenue terms, industry group Abiec said on Monday, indicating the worst of a food safety scandal that rocked Brazil’s protein industry may be over.
Brazil's beef exports should return to normal levels between April and May as the country's efforts to reverse import bans have started to bear fruit in the wake of a food safety scandal that surfaced last month, industry group Abrafrigo said.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is pushing to have meat removed from the proposed trade deal between Europe and Mercosur in the wake of Brazil’s meat scandal. The move could scupper the entire trade deal given the importance of the meat industry to Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
The fallout from Brazil's rotten meat scandal accelerated Monday when China, a huge market, suspended imports and the European Union and South Korea demanded a partial ban. Another ban on Brazilian meat imposed by Chile sparked fears of a trade spat between the two South American partners.
Brazil's acting president, Michel Temer, on Monday hailed the opening of the U.S. market to Brazilian beef, saying that it will help create new jobs and will expand trade for Latin America's largest economy.