Brazilian meat producers received good news last week about opening new markets for exports.
The Kingdom of Lesotho in Africa announced the opening of its market to Brazilian poultry, which will increase the presence of Brazilian poultry meat on the continent, according to information from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) and the Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA).
“The positive consumption outlook in the Lesotho market follows the upward trend recorded throughout 2023 in Brazilian exports to African countries. Therefore, the opening is especially celebrated by exporters at this positive moment for sales to the continent,” said ABPA President Ricardo Santin in a note released by the association.
Lesotho has shown increasing consumption of the protein over the past few years, with a current per capita consumption rate of about 11 kg, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) compiled by ABPA.
In 2023, Brazil exported 816.6 thousand tons of poultry to the African continent, 13.1% more than in 2022. Revenue rose 1.6% to USD 857.4 million.
“The African continent has been receiving increasing attention from Brazilian exporters, a region that has seen rising urbanization and income improvement, strengthening the country’s partnership in supporting the food security of African nations,” said ABPA Markets Director Luis Rua.
Negotiations for opening the Lesotho market began in November 2023, according to Mapa.
Bhutan, a country with nearly 1 million inhabitants in Asia, has opened its market to Brazilian pork exporters. This is the second market opening by the Asian country in the past six months and follows the authorization for poultry exports in December of last year.
According to the ABPA President, despite Bhutan’s low per capita pork consumption – 20% of the population of almost 1 million consumes the protein – this indicates potential for growth.
“The opening of this South Asian market comes at an important time for the sector, which has been seeking to expand the reach of Brazilian exports,” he highlighted. Bhutan’s pork import tariff is similar to that for poultry, around 10%, providing a competitive advantage for Brazilian proteins.
“This is an important advantageous condition to expand our presence in this market and in our role of supporting the local population’s food security, always complementing local producers,” Rua added.