Brazil poultry, pig farmers face record production costs

Average production costs for both chicken meat and pork in Brazil for the month of September broke previous records with each exceeding an index of 190, according to figures published by CIAS, the Central Intelligence Poultry and Swine agency. The basal index of 100 points was established in January 2005 for pigs and in January 2010 for poultry.
CIAS is part of the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária or the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa).
The broiler index (ICPFrango) reached almost 192.0 points in September, an increase of 7.1 percent from the previous month and 9.6 percent for the year so far. Over the last 12 months, the costs have shown variation of 21.0 percent.
The index peaked even higher last month for pigs (ICPSuíno) at 195.0 points. That is 4.4 percent higher than in August and 11.2 percent above the start of 2015.
The report does not speculate on the causes of these increased costs but the Brazilian real lost around one-third of its value against the U.S. dollar over the first nine months of this year, according to figures presented by Hamish Smith of Capital Economic at the Grain Market Outlook Conference 2015 held in London, U.K. last week.

Brazilian pork exports

Brazilian pig meat exports were 52,571 tons in September, 19.2 percent more than in the same month of 2014, according to the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA). This brought revenues to the value of US$121.6 million, which is 23 percent less than September 2014. For the year to date, the exported volume is up by 6.2 percent to 393,400 tons, representing a fall in value of 17.5 percent at US$948.2 million. Russia remains the leading destination of Brazilian pig meat exports, accounting for 48 percent of the total volume exported during September 2015.

Brazilian broiler exports

For chicken meat, the principal importers from Brazil maintained positive levels in September shipments and avoided a sharp drop on the strike of agricultural federal tax, according to the ABPA. Brazilian chicken exports in September were down just 0.5 percent in volume from a year ago at 366,400 tons.Revenue was 18.9 percent lower at US$592 million. For the year so far, Brazilian chicken meat exports are 4.8 percent higher than last year at 3.186 million metric tons, with a value 9.1 percent lower at US$5.4 billion. Saudi Arabia is Brazil’s leading export market for chicken meat.
For 2015, exports are expected to be around 3 percent higher than the previous year, according to ABPA Poultry Vice President Ricardo Santin.