Agriculture Minister Leaves USA Without Definition on Brazil’s Meat Exports

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Jair Bolsonaro’s government failed to set a deadline or procedure for the reopening of the US market for Brazilian fresh beef, even after Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina’s official visit to Washington.

The minister met on Wednesday, November 20th, with the secretary of the US Department of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, but left with no answers as to what the next steps will be for the US to permanently lift the veto imposed on Brazilian protein in 2017.

According to Tereza Cristina, the Americans should “soon” provide feedback on the responses sent by Brazil to the report that retained the restrictions on meat, although that this may happen “this month, next month or even next year”.

The minister attempted to discourage the Americans from conducting a new inspection on the quality of Brazilian meat, as the US intends, but admitted that this could indeed take place.

“Meat is an extremely technical issue. So they are finishing the assessment of the data that Brazil promptly provided as part of the consultation [late last month] and they will advise me on the next steps in a few weeks, whether they need to come to Brazil and, if so, when. In short, how are we going to proceed from here on out.”

“What did they promise me? That soon I will have news regarding the date and whether the information we have provided is enough or not.”

In October, the US thwarted Bolsonaro’s government by upholding the veto on Brazilian beef. After a technical inspection, the Americans produced a report in which they requested additional information from Brazil and established that a new inspection should be carried out in the country, although still without a scheduled date.

The minister says that a new inspection is a lengthy process, which would further delay the reopening of the market for the Brazilian product, but concedes that now it is necessary to wait once again for the pace of the Americans. “We will wait for their decision. I hope it will happen soon”, she added.

Among the four points raised last month by the US as a reason to uphold the restrictions, are issues in the maturation process and improved collection for microbiological testing, for instance. One of the issues that most disturbs Americans is the fact that Brazilian meat has abscesses caused by vaccination against foot-and-mouth disease.

Tereza Cristina reiterates that the problem of the flow of Brazilian meat in the US is a technical issue and she supported the argument in all her public speeches this week in Washington. The meat lobby in the US, however, does not wish the reopening of the market, which would undermine local producers who have already been affected by the trade war with China.

Against this backdrop, the minister said again that Brazil is experiencing a good moment of meat exports to the Asian power and that, therefore, the American market, although important, becomes secondary.

“Today we have a very serious issue in Brazil, everyone is exporting meat to China. Is the American market very important? Yes. But we will proceed very calmly.”

At the little over an hour-long meeting, the minister said that she had also addressed the quota of 750,000 tons of wheat that Brazil agreed on importing tariff-free – a US demand – and on ethanol. Bolsonaro’s government has raised an annual quota for tariff-free imports of American ethanol to 750 million liters. The previous quota was 600 million.

However, the hope that these concessions and the good cooperation between Bolsonaro and President Donald Trump would help expedite the reopening of the meat market has not been confirmed. This week, the minister is still to hold a series of talks with investors in New York and should return to Washington in February.

Source: Folhapress