Patrick Bruha

Patrick Bruha

Staff Writer
The Brazil Business

Updated

Countries that Import Meat from Brazil

Patrick Bruha

Patrick Bruha

Staff Writer
The Brazil Business

Updated

Brazil is among the largest producers and exporters of beef, poultry and pork in the world. In this article, we will take a look at the countries that are importing meat from Brazil.

Habilitating the company to export

First of all, if a company wishes to export live animals or animal products from Brazil, it must be compliant with the requirements specified by MAPA, which is the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply. Thus, a company interested in exporting meat must first obtain a registration from the Federal Inspection Service or SIF of MAPA. Registration with SIF is only complete after the facilities and the production processes are in compliance with the sanitary, technical and legal requirements.

After registration is granted, the company must be inspected by the Department of Inspection of Animal Products, known as DIPOA, which is managed by the Secretariat of Agricultural Protection in MAPA. Only after the completion of a successful inspection will the company be added to the list of companies authorized to export. A list of all companies authorized to export by MAPA can be found on this website.

An International Animal Health Certificate, the CSI, is also required as an international document attesting the health and proper vaccination of the animals, as well as:

  • Conditions of the facilities where the animals are handled
  • Appropriate use of supplies, such as food free from products of animal origin, hormones, antibiotics or prohibited anabolic steroids

Overview of Brazilian meat exports

Brazilian beef, poultry and pork is recognized as being high quality and exported all over the world.

Brazil is the world’s leading exporter of both beef and poultry, exporting to more than 150 countries. In fact, beef exports accounted for USD 5,8 billion, and poultry exports accounted for around USD 8 billion in 2014. As for pork, Brazil is also an important exporter, having exported around USD 1,6 billion in 2014, making it the fourth largest exporter in the world.

Brazil is also an exporter of horse meat, but this market is much less inspiring, with Brazilian exports amounting to USD 6 million in 2014.

Largest importers of Brazilian meat

It is important to say that India does not import meat from Brazil, since it does not hold any health agreement with Brazil. South Korea, United States and Mexico also do not import beef and pork from Brazil since they do not import meat from countries that vaccinate its bovine and swine against Foot-and-Mouth disease.

Let’s take a look at the top importers of Brazilian meat, divided into beef, poultry and pork.

Beef importers

Here are the top importers of Brazilian beef, ranked according to the value of imports, in USD thousands.

Country

Value (in USD thousands)

Volume (in tonnes)

Russia

1.296.904

321.058

Hong Kong

1.195.969

260.242

Venezuela

900.522

169.545

Egypt

585.193

153.825

Chile

275.771

53.493

Iran

274.764

61.571

Italy

215.767

27.803

Netherlands

146.200

15.359

Algeria

99.341

20.694

Germany

85.298

8.331

Lebanon

84.875

15.012

Angola

83.897

26.565

United Arab Emirates

76.750

15.322

Israel

53.903

10.856

Libya

51.892

13.799

Russia led the rank of the top importers of Brazilian beef in 2014. This was mainly due to Russia banning almost all food imports from the United States of America and from the European Union for a year - the ban is expected to end in August 2015. Hong Kong is the second largest importer of Brazilian beef not for its internal consumption, but because they re-export it to other Asian countries.

Poultry importers

Here are the top importers of Brazilian poultry, ranked according to value of imports, in USD thousands.

Country

Value (in USD thousands)

Volume (in tonnes)

Saudi Arabia

1.415.654

688.883

Japan

800.827

389.697

Hong Kong

689.795

335.667

United Arab Emirates

503.398

244.963

Netherlands

422.966

205.823

China

391.111

190.322

South Africa

347.085

168.898

Venezuela

334.064

162.562

Kuwait

233.497

113.624

Egypt

179.574

87.384

Yemen

175.273

85.291

Angola

175.131

85.222

Singapore

162.739

79.192

Germany

149.022

72.517

United Kingdom

141.885

69.044

The rigid control applied by MAPA’s National Program for Control of Residues and Contaminants is what ensures the high quality of Brazilian meat. Since its creation in 1979, no additional hormones have been found in poultry meat in Brazil. If there were any hormones found, many countries would have stopped importing Brazilian poultry meat.

Brazilian exports of poultry meat have largely increased since Russia put an embargo on poultry meat from the United States of America.

Pork importers

Here are the top importers of Brazilian pork, ranked according to value of imports, in USD thousands.

Country

Value (in USD thousands)

Volume (in tonnes)

Russia

810.506

186.594

Hong Kong

278.996

110.922

Singapore

95.224

32.288

Angola

94.077

52.284

Uruguay

63.301

20.386

Argentina

28.435

7.960

Chile

25.022

8.367

Georgia

21.015

8.617

Venezuela

19.194

5.816

Japan

17.702

4.191

Exports of pork are lower when comparing to poultry or beef since islamic countries import little or none of it due to religious matters. Countries like Algeria, Egypt and Iran - major importers of beef - are not importers of pork.