Proibição da saudita afeta 5 avícolas brasileiras

A indústria de exportação de frango do Brasil continua a enfrentar obstáculos à medida que seu maior destino de aves frescas e processadas, a Arábia Saudita, colocou uma proibição que impacta 5 fábricas de frango exportadas para o país, incluindo as fábricas da BRF e da JBS. A Arábia Saudita autorizou apenas 25 plantas de frango brasileiras a exportar para o país. Esses 25 frigoríficos respondem por 63% do total de aves exportadas para a Arábia Saudita.

A decisão saudita ocorreu apenas um dia depois que a BRF e outros conseguiram resolver uma disputa antidumping com a China. A Associação Brasileira de Proteína Animal (ABPA) disse que o motivo é um tanto técnico e deu garantias de que tudo seria feito para reverter a decisão. A associação também negou relatos de que a proibição foi uma retaliação da Arábia Saudita à intenção do governo de Bolsonaro de transferir a embaixada brasileira de Tel Aviv para Jerusalém.

Dados da ABPA mostram que o Brasil exportou 433,5 mil toneladas de produtos de aves para a Arábia Saudita em 2018, respondendo por 11,8% de todas as exportações desse produto. Para ilustrar, o DataLiner mostra os principais destinos de exportação de frango do Brasil na comparação ano a ano nos últimos três anos, conforme abaixo:

A BRF está otimista de que as exportações de frango para a Arábia Saudita serão restauradas à níveis anteriores dentro de três meses. A planta da BRF suspensa, conhecida como Lajeado, exportou anteriormente uma média de 6.500 toneladas de aves por mês.

As nações árabes, incluindo a Arábia Saudita, são os destinos mais significativos dos produtos de aves halal do Brasil. A maior empresa de certificação halal do país, a FAMBRAS Halal, estimou que esse nicho de carne gerou cerca de US $ 5 bilhões no ano passado, um aumento de 10%, apesar da greve dos caminhoneiros e de muitos outros embargos. Recentemente, a indústria halal vem enfrentando uma incerteza renovada devido à controvérsia em torno da realocação da embaixada do Brasil em Israel.

 

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Brazilian poultry firm BRF aims to restore Saudi exports in three months

SAO PAULO, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Brazilian poultry processor BRF said on Wednesday it expected to restore exports to Saudi Arabia to previous levels in three months after one of its plants lost its certification to export to the kingdom.

BRF said the suspended plant, known as Lajeado, had been exporting around 6,500 tonnes per month of chicken products to Saudi Arabia.

Brazil’s meat trade association said on Tuesday five Brazilian plants had lost their certification. Lajeado was among them.

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Saudi Arabia trims list of authorized Brazil chicken exporters

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has barred five Brazilian chicken processing plants from exporting to the Middle Eastern country, leaving 25 with valid export permits, Brazil’s meat trade association ABPA said on Tuesday, citing “technical” reasons.

FILE PHOTO – Employees work at the assembly line of jerked beef at a plant of JBS S.A, the world’s largest beef producer, in Santana de Parnaiba, Brazil December 19, 2017. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
The Saudi move threw up a fresh hurdle for top exporter BRF SA and its rivals just a day after an anti-dumping dispute with China was resolved.

BRF shares were down 3.8 percent in late afternoon trading, while rival meat processor JBS SA was down 0.6 percent after earlier falling as much as 2.4 percent.

Some 58 Brazilian plants are currently authorized to export to Saudi Arabia, ABPA said. In a revised follow-up statement, the trade groups said only 30 of those are effectively shipping products to the kingdom.

According to Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, the 25 plants that remain authorized to export to Saudi Arabia accounted for 63 percent of Brazil’s chicken exports to that country last year.

The list of authorized exporters, which was revised after a Saudi trade mission in Brazil last October, includes units operated by listed food processors JBS SA and BRF SA, the ministry said.

ABPA did not discuss the plants missing from the downsized list, blaming “technical” reasons for the Saudi move to reduce the number of export permits.

“Corrective action is being taken to restore the authorizations,” ABPA said in its initial statement, without elaborating.

Folha de S. Paulo earlier reported the Saudi move could be linked to the Brazilian government’s intention to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

But in an emailed message to Reuters, ABPA said that Saudi Arabia’s decision was “not related to any diplomatic matters.”

BRF declined immediate comment. JBS referred comments to the trade association.

Saudi Arabia in 2018 was Brazil’s top buyer of fresh and processed chicken products, an ABPA spokesman said.

ABPA data shows the Saudis imported 433,500 tonnes of chicken products from Brazil, or about 11.8 percent of all such sales from Brazilian purveyors.

China was a close second, importing around 400,900 tonnes of fresh chicken and byproducts, corresponding to 10.9 percent of total sales, according to the trade group’s data.

China’s Ministry of Commerce on Monday accepted an offer made by Brazilian chicken exporters to end a dumping investigation.

Reporting by Ana Mano; editing by Bernadette Baum, Marguerita Choy and G Crosse

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Brazil’s 2018 halal food exports may hit $5 billion: certification firm

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian halal food exports grew about 10 percent in 2018, the country’s largest halal certification firm said on Tuesday, despite fallout from a food sector scandal and a truckers’ strike that disrupted meat production last year.

FAMBRAS Halal estimates sales of Brazilian halal food, including chicken, beef, honey and cheese, rose to almost $5 billion in the period despite the industry’s multiple woes, it said in a statement.

“We failed to grow more as we had a very complicated year,” Ali Hussein El Zoghbi, vice-president at the certification company, said in the statement.

Zoghbi cited the truckers’ strike last May that disrupted supplies and exports as well as a sprawling investigation into collusion to avoid safety checks in the food sector, which damaged the reputations of several major meat packers and led to trade bans.

“These elements hampered chicken and beef production, the major items responsible for the sector’s high revenue,” he said.

Brazil is by far the world’s largest exporter of halal meat, which complies with Muslim dietary rules.

But a tentative proposal by Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro to relocate the country’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem could jeopardize that position.

Rubens Hannun, president of the Arab-Brazil Chamber of Commerce, said relocating the embassy could create “noise” in Brazil’s commercial relationship with Arab nations and open the door for the competition.

According to the chamber, Brazil’s total exports to a grouping of 22 Arab countries, which excludes non-Arab Muslim countries such as Iran, to swell to $20 billion by 2022, up from $13.5 billion in 2017.

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