EU Expected to Decide on Brazilian Poultry and Honey by November

The Brazilian government expects poultry meat and honey exports to the European Union to be cleared by November. Augusto Billi, secretary of Trade and International Relations at the Ministry of Agriculture, visited Brussels, Belgium’s capital, to discuss the issue and offered a positive assessment of negotiations with EU officials.

The European Union has suspended imports of Brazilian animal products since September 3, saying the country failed to demonstrate adequate controls over antimicrobial use in its production chains. Brazil’s reinstatement on the list of suppliers authorized to export to the bloc depends on approval from the EU’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF), which meets on October 20–21 and again in November.

Brazil has already received a favorable assessment from European authorities following a technical mission that inspected production facilities and the country’s sanitary control system in August. The mission concluded that Brazil’s poultry and honey sectors had demonstrated their ability to ensure that antimicrobials were not used. That assessment will now go before SCoPAFF for approval.

“The report favorable to Brazil will be presented. They will review it ahead of a decision at the November meeting. They couldn’t give me an exact date, but we believe the decision will have been published by December and Brazil could resume exports,” Billi said on Saturday, October 17, while attending the opening ceremony for the Brazilian pavilion at SIAL Paris, an international food industry trade show running through Wednesday, October 21, in the French capital.

Also at SIAL Paris, Ricardo Santin, president of the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA), said he considered the issue with European authorities bureaucratic and resolved. “Brazil has not violated any European requirements. We will continue this longstanding partnership,” he said on Saturday.

On Sunday, October 18, speaking with journalists at ABPA’s booth at SIAL, Santin said he expected EU authorities to base their decision on whether to clear exports on technical grounds. “I don’t see the possibility of a political decision going against a sound technical case. We have confidence in the European system and how it works, but if a decision is not based on technical grounds, we will ask the government to respond,” he said.

He added that the chicken industry was ready to resume shipments to the European Union “the day after” clearance. He also said the sector had not halted production destined for the bloc.

Brazilian beef exports, however, are expected to face a longer wait before sales to the European market resume. Also at SIAL, Roberto Perosa, president of the Brazilian Beef Exporters Association (Abiec), noted that the EU accounts for about 5% of Brazil’s beef export volume but plays an important role in setting prices.

“We are trying to engage with European authorities, alongside the Brazilian government, to have the European Union’s restriction lifted. The governments are talking, and the private sectors are talking, so that we can resume trade as quickly as possible,” Perosa said.

The journalist traveled at Apex’s invitation.

Source attribution: Globo Rural

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