South America Calling

Brazilian authorities expect the U.S. to lift restrictions on imports of its fresh beef in the next few weeks, coinciding with an official visit by President Dilma Rousseff, according to government sources quoted by Valor Economico, a local business daily.

It is a move that Brazil's beef industry has been eagerly anticipating ever since USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) started consulting on freeing fresh beef imports from 14 Brazilian states in December 2013.

According to APHIS, risk analysis showed Brazil's controls of and eradication plan for foot-and-mouth disease are effective and imports represent no threat to the U.S. herd or consumers.

APHIS estimates that, with the lifting of the ban, Brazil would export between 20,000 and 65,000 metric tons of chilled or frozen beef to the U.S. each year, which would put it among the U.S.'s 10 biggest suppliers. Two-thirds of those exports would substitute shipments from other countries.

Up until now, Brazil could only export cooked beef to the U.S.

The lifting of the ban will also help Brazil open other markets, such as Japan.

Brazil is the world's second-largest beef exporter after India.

Fresh beef exports totaled 1.25 million metric tons in 2014, up 5% on the year before, accounting for 81% of total shipments. Russia is Brazil's largest client, accounting for 25% of fresh beef shipments, followed by Hong Kong (read China) with 21%.

Rousseff's visit signals an improvement in relations between the U.S. and Brazil, which were strained by the discovery in 2013 that the U.S. NSA had been monitoring the premier's communications.

(AG)

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