Brazilian beef challenge grows
Beef production in Brazil is going through a boom with cattle slaughterings during the first half of the year reaching 12.4 million head and production for the year set to exceed that of the EU by about 0.25 million tonnes.
The boom in production has resulted in a 25% increase being recorded for the April-June quarter compared with the same period last year.
The average price of steer beef in Brazil for the year to September was 105 cents/kg (37p/lb) compared to the weighted average EU price for male beef of 267 cents/kg (95p/lb) which means that Brazilian beef is produced for around 40% of the EU price.
Brazilian exports of fresh/chilled and frozen beef has increased sharply for each of the first six months of this year with the exception of February.
The challenge in the British market has been added to by the closure of the Russian market to Brazilian beef following the confirmation of a case of FMD last month.
This loss of market is expected to lead to more concentrated focus by Brazil on Egypt, Chile, Holland, Italy and Britain.
