Brazil expands foot-and-mouth-disease-free-with-vaccination territory

Brazil, the largest beef exporter in the world (shipping more than 2 million tons valued at US$ 8.4 billion in 2020), expanded its “foot-and-mouth-disease free with vaccination’ territory. This has been a government and private sector goal for decades and a requirement from some importers. As a result, 60 million vaccine doses against the virus will no longer be applied annually to a herd of more than 40 million head of cattle in Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Acre, Rondônia, and parts of Amazonas and Mato Grosso. The savings are estimated at R$ 170 million per year.

Made official on May 27 by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), this recognition may enable the search for markets that pay more, such as Japan, South Korea, the United States, Mexico, and the European Union. However, there is little scope for significant changes in shipments, as sales to the world’s top importers, including China, are already high.

At the same time, the measure represents an extra challenge for the inspection of the health of the herd to avoid any complication that forces the Brazilian livestock to regress.

The Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina, and the certified state governors warned against this regression even while some were celebrating the OIE decision. “We are starting a new era, but we need the state services to be very vigilant from now on. The responsibility of the official veterinary service increases with this change in status. The maintenance of this achievement will depend on the continuity of support and investment in agricultural defense”, said Tereza Cristina.

Below is a history of Brazilian beef exports based on data from DataLiner:

Evolution of Brazilian Beef Exports (HS 0202) | Jan to Dec 2015-2020 | TEU

Graph source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

The challenge is to hire more federal tax auditors for livestock. Since 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture has asked for a new tender for the selection of civil servants, but it has not yet received approval. The answer now is that the economic team will wait for the results of the administrative reform underway in the National Congress to decide on the matter. Another bet is on the approval of the Self-Control Law, which awaits analysis by the defendants, and extends the responsibility on the private entities in the chain.

Source: Valor Econômico

To read the full original article, access the link below:

https://valor.globo.com/agronegocios/noticia/2021/05/28/novo-status-para-aftosa-desafia-fiscalizacao.ghtml

Sharing is caring!