The animal protein industry is concerned about rising input costs, especially corn and soybean meal. Calculations by the Brazilian Association of Animal Proteins (ABPA) indicate that, in the case of maize, the average increase in August is 53% in relation to the same period of last year. Already the high of the ton of soybean meal exceeds 43%.
According to the entity, the exchange rate factor and the reduction of the supply of grains in this harvest also had a substantial impact on this increase in costs. As a direct consequence of this increase – besides the fact of the increase in the price of transportation – was the announcement of imports of corn from MERCOSUR countries, which occurred earlier this semester.
According to the president of the ABPA, Francisco Turra, the year 2018 has marked one of the most critical moments in history for poultry, egg and pork producers in Brazil. “Several internal factors impacted on the loss of competitiveness of poultry and pig production.”
The suspension of Brazilian poultry exporting plants by the European Union, the continuation of the Russian blockade of pork, the introduction of new halal criteria by Arab countries and the application of misleading anti-dumping measures by China were some of the factors that led to the sector in a challenging period, whose peak occurred at the end of May, during the truckers’ strike.
According to the leader, the freight tariff is also a factor of loss of competitiveness. “The truck drivers strike showed Brazil the great dependence on poultry and swine for road logistics. It uses, for this, dedicated transports – for sanitary questions – for both animals and products. Precisely for this reason, they are fidelity transports, mainly in short distances. With the new table, the logistical cost of the sectors shows an average increase of 35% – reaching close to 80% in some modalities, such as the transportation of feed. “
Turra warns that with the sum of these factors – freight tariffs and rising production costs – the prices of meat and other poultry and pork products tend to increase by around 15% for the final consumer.
However, in the ABPA assessment, the losses could be higher, were it not for the strong diversification of Brazilian animal protein import markets. In the international market, a large part of the exports that had previously been destined for Russia had countries in Asia (China and Hong Kong) and South America (Chile, Uruguay and Argentina) as destinations. For chicken, China, Mexico, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and other markets have reduced the impact of the European embargo.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.