Brazil wants to increase pork sales in Mexico

Brazil's pork and poultry industry

has conquered 160 markets worldwide and even has a presence in the 2018 Soccer World Cup in Russia , but producers have now set their eyes on a market with great potential for the new directions of trade: Mexico .

One of the main associations of Brazilian meat producers requested that the government accelerate procedures so that Brazil could increase its pork and poultry sales to Mexico, in face of commercial disagreements with the United States.

The Brazilian Association of Animal Protein of Brazil (ABPA) , which brings together 150 companies that invoice more than 8,500 million dollars in exports each year wants to take advantage of the vacuum that the American product can leave in Mexico, after the imposition of tariffs of 20 percent to pork imports from the United States .

"With the 20 percent tariff (on US imports) we became competitive," ABPA vice president Ricardo Santin said recently.

The organization has been promoting a greater presence in Mexico for years through participation in trade fairs and meetings such as the last Expo ANTAD & Alimentaria Mexico 2018 , held last March in Guadalajara, Jalisco , where Brazilian and Mexican companies closed a sale of almost 100 million dollars in chicken meat, according to industry sources.

In fact, statistics already show an increase of trade in this area: from January to May , Brazilian meat exports to Mexico grew 62 percent , from 52 to 85 million dollars , according to the Ministry of Development of Brazil.

With nearly one million tons imported in 2017 , Mexico is the third largest buyer of pork in the world , behind Japan and China, in a business that used to benefit from the USA’s proximity and NAFTA .

However, the application of tariffs announced last week by the Mexican Ministry of Economy after the government of US President Donald Trump imposed rates on Mexican steel and aluminum , caused Canada and the European Union to impose equal tariffs since June 1 , opening an opportunity for the South American country, one of the world's giants in the agricultural sector.

In fact, Brazil's interest in the Mexican meat market is part of a generalized tendency of the South American country to want to boost the presence of its agricultural products in Mexico.

Also, Brazilian exports of feed grains to Mexico increased strongly in 2018 after a generalized increase in 2017, when the Mexican government sent a delegation to open new trade routes with the South American giant to reduce dependence on American imports.

Thus, the export to Mexico of soybeans , of which Brazil could become the world’s largest producer, grew above 100 percent from January to May, compared to the same period of 2017, totaling 235,000 tons and a value of 93 million dollars .

Brazil is the world's fourth largest exporter of pork , behind the European Union (world leader), the United States and Canada, but its meat products were impacted by a series of scandals over adulteration of sanitary controls that damaged their reputation.

dm