Brazil poultry industry to increase North American exports

Brazil's poultry exporters hope to recover from last year’s losses by expanding the industry’s markets in the United States, Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Sudan and Senegal in 2010, and they are seeking federal tax breaks to lower their costs, according to Brazzil Magazine.
Brazil’s 2009 chicken exports totaled 3.63 million tons, about even with 2008 figures. But revenues fell 16.33% to US$ 5.8B, from US$6.9B in 2008, as Brazilian currency lost value against the U.S. dollar, the magazine reported. The only regions to increase their imports of Brazilian chicken in 2009 were Africa and the Middle East, according to Ricardo Santin, executive director of Abef, Brazil's poultry exporters association.
The industry’s performance in the Middle East was due to a variety of factors, including a regional rise in chicken consumption without a corresponding rise in production and more Brazilian slaughterhouses equipped for halal slaughter (slaughter in accordance with Islamic tradition), Santin said.