Brazilian meat exports reach record highs on Chinese demand

Brazilian meat exports reached record highs in September, both in terms of monthly volumes and in shipments accumulated since the beginning of the year, official customs data shows.

The growing export sector – a potential drive for the Brazilian meat industry amid lacklustre domestic demand due to falling household income – could boost the country’s herd size and feed demand.

The strong performance of the country’s meat exporting sector has been supported by Chinese demand with the Asian giant responsible for over 50% of beef and pork exports and just over 15% of poultry shipments.

In September, Brazil exported 187,017 mt of fresh, chilled and frozen beef, 101,897 mt of pork and 388,951 mt of poultry meat and edible offal, all over 20% higher on the year.

The September figures are the largest volumes for the month since the foreign ministry began its time series in 1997.

Furthermore, monthly volumes lifted total exports since the beginning of the calendar year to all-time highs, with beef at 1.27 million mt, pork at 776,620 mt and poultry meat at 3.2 million mt.

The outstanding performance of Brazil’s beef and pork exports is underpinned by Chinese buying as 56% of beef and 55% of pork shipments to date were bound to the Asian country.

China remained the main destination market for Brazilian poultry meat exports, claiming 16% of volumes shipped in September.

That said, poultry meat volumes bound to China in the first three-quarters of 2021 fell 3% on the year but were more than offset by rising demand from other markets, especially Mexico, Philippines, Chile, United Arab Emirates and South Africa.