Mexico still closed to chicken imports from Brazil

As I blogged at the end of this past July, the Newcastle disease case in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul should have been treated as it was: an isolated outbreak. But alarm spread, and trade was impacted.

After this one and only episode, China, Argentina, Mexico and Macedonia closed their borders to Brazilian chicken. Although Macedonia and Argentina are among the 150 destinations of Brazilian chicken, imports from those countries are not as big as China and Mexico.

China is back on track, but Mexico isn’t. It has already been eight weeks and negotiations with Mexico are still ongoing. I have heard many Brazilian voices complaining that Mexico is too tough, which could be the case, I seriously don’t know.

Last year China was the No. 1 importer and Mexico No. 9. Mexico is the only Latin American country in the top 10, with 108,500 tons between January and July 2024, an 8.4% increase compared to the same period last year. It is worth mentioning that 92 buyers from Mexico were expected to attend SIAVS. I have no idea what the fate of this was since the outbreak and the show happened just within a few days of each other.

Here’s a historical overview of Brazilian chicken exports (measured in TEUs) from January 2022 to July 2024. The graph was prepared using DataLiner information:

Chicken Exports | Jan 2022 – July 2024 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

With the intention of strengthening relationships with Mexico to support poultry meat, pork, eggs and poultry genetic material imports, the Brazilian Association for Animal Protein (ABPA) participated during the last week of August in a series of meetings led by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and the Secretary of Agricultural Defense in Mexico City.

In promoting business and commercial ties with the Mexican market, the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporting Industries (ABIEC) were at the Brazilian Embassy in Mexico City, with more than ten Brazilian companies attending the meetings. The agenda also included meetings with representatives of the Mexican government and with the Mexican Meat Council (Comecarne).

The only good news was the reestablishment of poultry genetics exports to the Mexican market, the largest importer in this segment, in addition to “positive expectations” in the progress of the reestablishment of poultry meat exports to that destination.

Source: Watt

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