MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian pork exports increase 43% in first quarter, but beef sales dropped 5.86%

Beef exports were the only major protein to decline. When comparing the first quarters of 2020 with 2019, there was a 5.86% drop, with a total of 22,496 tons

Official data shows that Brazilian pork exports have increased by 43.34% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter of 2019, with 11,660 tons. In the month of March alone, there was a 37.9% increase compared to March of 2019 when only 4,131 tons were shipped. The main markets are China and Hong Kong.

When analyzing the data on broiler, however, the growth in the first quarter of 2020 compared to that of 2019 was more modest, with only a 6.64% increase, totaling 74,080 tons. When comparing March 2020 with the same month of the previous year, the growth was 4.1%, with a total of 26,137 tons shipped.

Beef exports were the only major protein to decline. When comparing the first quarters of 2020 with 2019, there was a 5.86% drop, with a total of 22,496 tons. When comparing the months of March, however, there was a 2.2% increase in beef exports in 2020 compared to 2019, with a total of 8,350 tons.

In the coming months, the expectations are that there will be an increase in Brazil’s exports. This is due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has paralyzed several large American slaughterhouses in the last month. Hence, American producers will be forced to prioritize domestic supply and reduce exports to China and other Asian countries, favoring Brazil.

The Brazilian production structure, which is less concentrated and contains smaller plants than the US, would have the advantage of having fewer workers per plant who could potentially be exposed to the disease.

In addition, China has again reported cases of Spanish swine flu in the country’s pig farms, a disease that in 2019 decimated most of their pigs and increased their need to import the protein.