Meat

Avian flu advances, putting Brazil’s poultry sector on alert

Sep, 21, 2023 Posted by Gabriel Malheiros

Week 202338

On high alert over the spread of avian influenza in Brazil, the animal protein sector considers the risk to Brazilian chicken exports from an outbreak of the disease on commercial farms to be low. But the yellow light went out on Tuesday after Japan suspended imports of chicken from Mato Grosso do Sul following the discovery of an outbreak of bird flu in subsistence poultry in Bonito.

Concerns have grown since the outbreak was detected in domestic poultry in the interior of the country. Two other outbreaks have already been detected in subsistence poultry, but in coastal states.

“I’m not going to tell you what the impact would be, but we’re predicting it’s minimized. If it were in the past, Japan would have closed the entire country, but it has already evolved to regionalization by state and is evaluating now by municipality,” said Ricardo Santin, president of the Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA).

The Asian country had already suspended purchases of chicken from the states of Santa Catarina and Espírito Santos following the discovery of avian flu in subsistence poultry, but lifted the embargo in August.

According to the biosecurity protocol adopted by Japan, Brazil must send a report on all the measures taken for epidemiological control 28 days after the confirmation of the case, and it is up to the Japanese authorities whether or not to resume imports.

However, the Mato Grosso state government is expected to ask for an earlier deadline, Jaime Verruck, secretary of Environment, Development, Science, Technology and Innovation (Semadesc), told Valor. “Given that the outbreak has already been completely eliminated, the governor [Eduardo Riedel] will send a request tomorrow [Thursday] to Minister [Carlos] Fávaro to bring forward this temporary suspension in Japan, which we understand is quite possible given that cases have only been recorded in subsistence birds,” he said.

The Japanese reaction surprised analysts, as the Brazilian government – after an official mission to Japan – had signaled that the Asian country would not suspend imports in the event of an outbreak in domestic poultry. “It had been guaranteed that in cases of backyard birds, there would be no closure,” said Fernando Iglesias, an animal protein analyst at Safras & Mercado, during an online event held by the consultancy on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Agriculture declined to comment on the Japanese reaction. The president of the ABPA denied that the Asian country had made any commitment. According to him, what happened was only a request for the regionalization of cases to take place at the municipal level, but with no concrete return so far.

“What was put there was the possibility of evolving to a regionalization by municipalities, but that has not yet been defined as an agreement,” said Mr. Santin.

According to ABPA, Mato Grosso do Sul exports about 2,500 tonnes of chicken meat to Japan every month, representing 0.7% of Brazil’s total monthly exports. In addition, the exporting units in Mato Grosso do Sul are owned by companies that have plants in other states. “The expectation is that there will be a reorganization of the export flow so that the impact generated by the Japanese decision is minimized,” the company said in a statement.

Japan is the second main market for chicken from Mato Grosso do Sul. By August this year, it had exported 19,400 tonnes, about 18% of the state’s total exports.

“In the short term, we don’t see any impact on the industry in Mato Grosso do Sul. Since it’s a short period, this production can be allocated to other markets,” said Mr. Verruck.

See below the volume of Brazilian poultry exported from maritime ports from January 2019 to July 2023, according to the intelligence service DataLiner.

Poultry exports from Brazil | Jan 2019 – Jul 2023 | WTMT

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

As of Wednesday, Brazil had recorded 106 outbreaks of avian influenza, 103 in wild birds and three in domestic poultry. No outbreaks have been recorded in commercial farms, allowing the country to maintain its disease-free status with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and for exports.

Source: Valor Econômico

Click on the following link to access the original news piece: https://valorinternational.globo.com/agribusiness/news/2023/09/21/avian-flu-advances-putting-brazils-poultry-sector-on-alert.ghtml

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