OIE Frees 10 Brazilian States for Foreign Trade

BRAZIL - According to the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, the minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply of Brazil, Reinhold Stephanes, announced on Monday that the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has freed ten Brazilian states and the Federal District, where Brazilian capital Brasília is located, for foreign trade of beef.
calendar icon 28 May 2008
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With this decision, all the Brazilian states that produce beef, except for the midwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul, are capacitated for foreign trade.


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"At the moment this liberation does not mean any financial gain, as the global demand is so heated that we will soon no longer have cattle for export"
Reinhold Stephanes, the minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply of Brazil.

the minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply of Brazil, Reinhold Stephanes In 2005, the states lost their status of free of foot and mouth disease through vaccination due to outbreaks of the disease in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná (in the south).

"With this decision by the OIE, the country has once again reached the status of free of foot and mouth disease, although Mato Grosso do Sul has not yet been freed due to lack of additional scientific evidence," stated Stephanes, in a press conference after participating in a debate-luncheon promoted by the Group of Business Leaders (LIDE), in São Paulo. According to the minister, the state of Mato Grosso do Sul should be freed within the next 60 days.

Apart from the Federal District other states declared by the OIE free of foot and mouth disease through vaccination were Bahia and Sergipe (NE), Goiás and Mato Grosso (MW), Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (SE), Tocantins (N) and Paraná. This information was provided to minister Stephanes by the Ministry delegation that is in Paris (France) participating in the international animal health control organisation's 76th general plenary session.

Reinhold Stephanes said that liberation places the country in a very good position on the international market. "At the moment this liberation does not mean any financial gain, as the global demand is so heated that we will soon no longer have cattle for export," stated the minister. However, the liberation may provide middle- and long-term perspectives, as beef production is on the rise.

The minister of Agriculture said that Brazil is investing very much in the area of vegetable and animal sanitary defence, not just in the case of foot and mouth. "This disease was the point that became emblematic, and that we faced. We have practically eliminated all cases and have adopted all measures that are recommended by the OIE. We have set up a structure so that, if cases of foot and mouth disease do come to occur, which is possible, we will show that we have a capacity to eliminate them quickly," stated the minister.

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