Parana Gets Ready to Expand Exports

PARANA, BRAZIL - A favourable announcement by the World Organisation for Animal Health is encouraging the sector, which celebrates expansion of sales to the Arabs, among other markets. Shipments to the Middle East and North Africa grew 354% in the first four months of 2008, in comparison with the same period of 2007.
calendar icon 29 May 2008
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The decision of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) of recognising the state of Paraná (S Brazil) – as well as nine other Brazilian states and the Federal District – as free of foot and mouth disease is cheering up farmers and slaughterhouses in the state. The president at the Union of the Meat and Derivatives Industry of the state of Paraná, Péricles Salazar, stated that the herd and the industrial structure of Paraná are capable of quickly resuming exports to the world.


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"Paraná is proving its capacity in sanitation management, in keeping with the new world order"
The secretary of Agriculture and Supply in the state of Paraná, Valter Bianchini

The measure of the OIE, announced last Monday (26th), could not have come at a better time. Exporters in Paraná are celebrating the expansion of sales, including those to the Arabs. According to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, shipments of beef (fresh, chilled and frozen) from the state to the Middle East and North Africa grew 354% in terms of revenues in the first fourth months this year, compared with the same period last year. This occurred even before the international organisation had attested to the quality of sanitation in Paraná.

Between January and April 2008, shipments to the Arab world totalled 841.2 tonnes, generating revenues of US$ 2.6 million. In the first four months of 2007, 398.4 tonnes were exported, equivalent to US$ 569,300. Last year, the state exported 1,400 tonnes of beef to the League of Arab States, generating revenues of US$ 2.6 million. That is, in only four months, foreign sales have already generated as much in revenues as they had in the whole of 2007.

The secretary of Agriculture and Supply in the state of Paraná, Valter Bianchini, asserted that OIE's recognition is important, as the leading global markets make their purchases based on certification issued by the organisation. In addition to Paraná and the Federal District, other Brazilian states favoured by OIE's decision were Bahia (NE), Espírito Santo (SE), Goiás (MW), Mato Grosso (MW), Minas Gerais (SE), Rio de Janeiro (SE), São Paulo (SE), Sergipe (NE) and Tocantins (N).

Bianchini believes that by the end of this year, the state may recover the export volume recorded in 2005, when it lost its status of area free of foot and mouth disease through vaccination. In that year, the state shipped 38,300 tonnes of beef to foreign countries, generating revenues of US$ 82 million. "Due to the herd's genetics and the quality of beef from Paraná, we believe that we will be able to surpass the volume exported in 2005 as of next year."

The representative of the Agricultural Federation of the State of Paraná (Faep), Ronei Volpi, claimed that now farmers feel encouraged to invest in traceability and to register their farms with the Brazilian System for Beef and Buffalo Meat Identification and Certification of Origin (SISBOV). By doing so, they will be able to obtain certification for exporting to Europe.

To Bianchini, OIE's decision attests to the quality of agricultural and livestock sanitation service in the state, especially animal sanitation. "Paraná is proving its capacity in sanitation management, in keeping with the new world order," he asserted.

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