MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil gaining ground in the US beef market: main exporter in first two months of 2022

Brazil has been growing steadily in importance and volume as a beef exporter to the United States

Brazil in the first two months of this year became for the first time ever, the main supplier of beef to the United States. In January the US took 45,400 tons of Brazilian beef and in February 25,600, totaling 71,000 tons, ahead of more traditional suppliers such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico, according to US Agriculture Department released early April.

Brazil has been growing steadily in importance and volume as a beef exporter to the United States. In the first two months of 2021, Brazilians provided 7% of the total beef volume imported by the North Americans. This year, the percentage rose to 25%, according to USDA data.

Total exports in 2021 amounted to 168,000 carcass-equivalent tons, up from 100,000 in 2020.

The United States is one of Brazil’s main competitors in the protein export market. However, unlike Brazilians, the US is also a major importer. In the fiscal year, which started in October 2021 US beef imports completed 505,000 tons.

As in Brazil, the US agricultural sector has set new international trade records. The financial estimates for this year, has exports totaling US$ 183.5 billion and imports, US$ 172.5 billion.

In the first five months of the fiscal year, revenues totaled US$ 84.1 billion, an increase of 9% in relation to the same period of the previous year. At a faster pace, imports grew 21%, reaching US$ 79.2 billion.

Brazilian pork is also gaining ground in the North American market. In the first two months of this year, Brazil exported 3,783 tons to the United States, 121% more than in the same period of the previous year.

That is a record for Brazil, which was ranked sixth in the list of the primary pork suppliers to North Americans during this time period.

The fact that Brazilian animal protein is gaining space in the North American market is important because the US is a global reference in terms of sanitary requirements and meat quality for its imports.