Brazil defends animal health policies
And recriminations within the country over the huge beef trade setback have pointed to carelessness in disease prevention.
Brazil’s President Lula, on a European trip, denied his government had skimped on funds for farmers to vaccinate cattle, and said farmers were also to blame.
However, further long-term damage may be done to Brazil’s beef industry by the government’s critics, who say the finance ministry withheld €1.2m allocated in this year’s budget to control of animal diseases.
Unfavourable exchange rates and high interest rates may have forced the government and farmers to cut animal health costs, and led to last week’s cases of O-type foot and mouth, even though all Brazilian cattle are supposed to be vaccinated twice annually against this strain of the virus. This year, the government is accused of having spent only 1.57% of the money budgeted for fighting foot and mouth disease.
Mato Grosso do Sul, where foot and mouth was found last week, is said to have not received any government funds this year for fighting the disease. The EU has also barred meat from the neighbouring states of Parana and Sao Paulo.
Brazil has been hardest by its biggest overseas food customer, Russia, which has banned imports not only of beef, but also of pork, chicken, live animals, milk and other dairy products, animal feed based on animal protein and any equipment used to process meat in Mato Grosso.
Israel, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Indonesia and South Africa also imposed partial or total bans.
However, no ban had yet been reported earlier this week in Egypt, which takes 17,920 tons of Brazilian beef per month.
The EU ban applies to all de-boned and matured bovine meat slaughtered on and after September.
The European Commission says it does not have a regional breakdown of exports of beef from Brazil.
But beef industry sources say the EU ban covers 55 to 60% of exports to the EU, and 60% of all Brazilian beef processing establishments.
Brazil’s National Farm Federation foreign trade chief Antonio Donizeti warned the foot-and-mouth outbreak would cost his country between €420m and €840m this year.
It could take up to two years for the beef industry to recover its status as the world’s largest beef exporter, said Mr Donizeti.
Not only is Brazil likely to relinquish its No 1 position in beef exports; negotiations on opening up beef exports to the US, which had been going well, may also be scrapped.
Otavio Cancado, senior adviser at the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporters, said total export activity would not be badly affected, because Brazil had plenty of beef and export-approved abattoirs in other states.
Marcus Vinicius Pratini de Moraes, the president of the association of Brazilian exporters, also downplayed the impact, saying 90% of Brazil’s cattle herd is totally free of foot and mouth.
But there has been a strong reaction at the highest level in Brazil, with agriculture minister Roberto Rodrigues appearing on national television, promising money to overcome the crisis.
And President Lula has appealed to Portugal’s president to help in explaining to the EU what has been done to contain the spread of foot and mouth, and trying to get the EU to lift its ban.
But it seems inevitable that the EU ban will last at least 60 days. The emphasis is on keeping out the virus, which remains alive for months in frozen carcasses, and also survives in hides.
The Brazil beef ban by at least 30 importers could drive up international beef prices, resulting in international political pressures to lift the ban as soon as possible.
