Brazil seeks to open the Mexican poultry and swine market

The Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA) will promote Brazilian agriculture products in the Brazilian Embassy in Mexico City during a July 29 workshop. Mexican authorities will be in attendance as ABPA focuses on opening the Mexican market to exports pork and poultry genetic material from Brazil.
Coordinated by Francisco Turra, ABPA president; Ricardo Santin, the poultry vice president of the association; and Rui Saldanha Eduardo Vargas, swine vice president, the agenda aims to broaden the export program of chicken meat to the Mexican market.
The secretary of international relations of the Ministry of Agriculture, Marcelo Junqueira, confirmed participation in the event.
Within the agenda, a meeting is scheduled with Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food of Mexico Enrique Martinez y Martinez. Actions are supported by the Brazilian ambassador in Mexico, Marcos Raposo Lopes, and Mexico's ambassador in Brazil, Beatriz Elena Paredes Rangel.
According to the president of the ABPA, Mexico and South Korea are priorities for exports of pork from Brazil.
"Recently, we participated in the Mexican market and we have been informed of pork supply problems in the country, following the outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). For this reason, we streamline processes to consolidate Brazil as a partner, to ensure the supply of the product for local consumers," he pointed out.
About poultry exports, the president of ABPA highlighted another health problem that recently faced the Mexican poultry industry: the avian influenza outbreaks recorded in 2012, which still cause impact on local production.
"Last year, Mexico opened its doors to Brazilian chicken meat. However, just now shipments are gaining strength, reaching 3,500 metric tons in the first five months of the year. Therefore, although our primary focus is the opening of pork market, we want to expand the chicken exports program to this destination, while looking toward the opening of poultry genetics segment, which was also affected during the health crisis of 2012," Turra said.