“The beef industry has undergone considerable change since the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, and needs to change again,” he said.
“In 2007 there was plenty of investment in beef but since then we have seen massive consolidation,” he continued.
“ABIEC , ApexBrasil and the Brazilian Beef Association have combined many companies under one banner – three years ago this comprised just ten companies, today it is 25.
“Of Brazil’s enormous beef production volumes, what is surprising is that 80 per cent stays in Brazil. When it comes to exports each country has its favourite part of the animal when it comes to consumption. In Brazil the hindquarters are more popular than forequarters, whereas in Russia and the Middle East forequarters are in greater demand. It used to be almost all offal purchased for the Hong Kong market but there is more beef purchased here now.
“At one stage Europe took 60% of Brazil’s exports but this has now dropped to 10% due to the pressure of Irish and French farmers. These restrictions mean that only rump or loin can be sent to Europe, so Brazil sells mostly to The Emirates and elsewhere.
“These restrictions are getting a little better but are still not easy,” he explained. “At one stage Brazil played a massive role in providing meat for frozen foods such as frozen lasagne but this is no longer the case. And the meat consumers want has to come from somewhere. We need to increase international trade once more to prevent disasters such as the horsemeat scandal.
He want on to expound the virtues of our individual selections when it comes to meat: “It is great that there are individual preferences, the French love their fillets and the British eat strip loins for instance. I want to spread the word that Brazillian meat is not a threat to Europe because what is imported is in demand and will not ruin Euro agriculture.
“Right now what is needed is good value meat to please today’s economically constrained consumer – it need not all be minced beef – we would like to offer European consumers a much wider, good value choice”.
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