Qatar resumes beef imports from Brazil after “mad cow” case

The Ministry of Agriculture announced on Tuesday, May 30, that Qatar lifted an embargo on beef imports from Brazil, which had been imposed due to an atypical case of the “mad cow disease” detected in Pará in February.

According to a statement, the resumption of purchases by Qatar was informed to the Brazilian government the day before and followed the example of other market reopening decisions in Tunisia, Palestine, and Russia.

According to the ministry, “Due to the identification of the disease, Qatar subjected Brazil, on May 3, 2023, to the list of precautionary measures, exposing the product to restrictive terms.”

The atypical strain of the disease Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) occurs naturally and spontaneously in cattle and does not represent a risk to public health.

Based on guidelines from the World Organization for Animal Health (WHOA), the ministry stressed that an atypical case does not justify import restrictions, unlike the classic form of the disease.

In the first quarter of 2023, bilateral trade between Brazil and Qatar was US$ 231.6 million. In the period, exports of animal protein to Qatar corresponded to approximately 75% of the total shipped by Brazil, according to data from the federal government.

See below Brazil’s beef exports in containers to Qatar between Jan 2019 and Mar 2023, according to the DataLiner market intelligence service.

Beef exports to Qatar | Jan 2019 – Mar 2023 | TEU

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

In 2022, beef exports to Qatar totaled approximately US$ 36.9 million, equivalent to 6,000 tonnes of the product.

Source: Valor Econômico
To read the original report, check: https://valor.globo.com/agronegocios/noticia/2023/05/30/qatar-retoma-importacao-de-carne-bovina-do-brasil-apos-embargo-por-vaca-louca.ghtml

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