BRAZILIAN pork and poultry exporters expect their shipments to the Philippines to reach a new record high this year due to the increasing demand of local traders from sources that are free from the dreaded African swine fever (ASF).
Brazilian Animal Protein Association (Abpa) Executive Director Ricardo Santin said their exports to the Philippines have “strongly improved” in 2018 after their shipments were temporarily halted in 2017 due to Salmonella issues.
“The Brazilian exporters have improved exports to Philippines, thanks to the trust built between the two countries,” Santin told the BusinessMirror in an interview.
“Brazil has offered quality products, guaranteed by strict controls of process and sanitarian issues. Also, Brazil has no bird flu or African swine fever in its territory,” he added.
Data provided by the Abpa showed that Brazil’s poultry meat exports to the Philippines in 2018 rose by 47.62 percent to 52,454.218 metric tons from 35,530.988 MT recorded in 2017.
Brazil’s pork exports to the Philippines expanded by 481.9 percent to 12,055.879 MT from just 2,071.68 MT in 2017, Abpa data showed.
Its chicken exports to the Philippines in 2018 were valued at $27.136 million, 40.3 percent higher than the $19.344 million recorded in 2017, according to Abpa data.
Abpa data also showed that the value of Brazil’s pork exports to the Philippines ballooned to $20.079 million, a 571.4-percent increment from the $2.99-million export receipt recorded in 2017.
“There is no reason to not repeat [the growth in exports last year]. Brazil is going to increase its international actions to be closer [to] its clients/partners,” Santin said.
“We intend to show to all importer-countries our position to increase our partnership for food security,” he added.
Santin said Brazil’s ASF-free status would be one of its key competitive advantages, as many countries, including the Philippines, have closed their borders to products from countries hit by the dreaded swine disease.
Data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed that Brazil is the country’s third-top supplier of poultry meat, and it is also the top 8 exporter of pork products to the Philippines.
BAI data showed that the majority of the country’s poultry meat imports from Brazil are used by the meat-processing sector to manufacture hot dogs and chicken nuggets.