Kuwaiti market finally ready for Brazilian meat imports

Procedures have finally been defined so that the Kuwaiti market can effectively receive Brazilian exports of beef, mutton and goat meat. Although the market has been officially open since February, negotiations have been underway with the Arab country to make shipments viable for Brazilian establishments that have already received authorization from Brazil`s Federal Inspection Service.

In addition to this understanding, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) also was waiting for a definition of requirements by the International Health Certificate (CSI) that companies need to comply with in order to export.  These requirements were made official on March 25. Among them, there is the requirement that the animals be slaughtered in an approved slaughterhouse and under the supervision of the competent exporting country authority, approved by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Kuwait does not have its own list of authorized slaughterhouses but will follow the list of establishments authorized by the Brazilian government for export. Kuwait gives Brazilian companies access to a market that imports beef worth US$200 million per annum, or 40,000 tons by volume.

Brazil had been shipping around 4,000 to 5,000 tons of beef to Kuwait until 2013 when it was banned to an atypical case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) found in Paraná.  The embargo was lifted in 2015, but exports were not released as the process of certification and documents needed to be completed. The opening of the market was one of the topics that Agriculture Minister, Tereza Cristina, discussed with officials from Kuwait during her visit to the country in the second half of last year.

Source: Anba

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