In Brazil, Anger Over European Ban of Beef Imports

The New York Times

By ANDREW DOWNIE

Published: February 5, 2008

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — A decision by the European Union to ban Brazilian beef imports is “unjustifiable and arbitrary” and could result in shortages and higher prices for European consumers, officials and agricultural specialists say.

Concerned that the meat could pose health risks, the Europeans banned all Brazilian beef imports last week. European nations are still alert to fears over mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease, and contend that Brazil, the world’s largest beef exporter, does not have adequate health and traceability systems in place.

Brazilian ranchers denied that and proposed that imports be allowed from 2,600 holdings where they said procedures were adequate. The Europeans rejected that compromise and imposed a blanket ban. A delegation is to visit Brazil later this month to further review Brazilian practices.
The restrictions were the latest in a long-running dispute between the European Union and Brazil and evoked predictable anger from Brazilian producers.

The head of the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporters called the measures “abusive sanitary protectionism” and said that herders in Europe simply wanted to eliminate Brazilian competition.

Around 90 percent of Brazilian beef cattle graze freely and that, combined with advanced technology used to raise and fatten cattle, means each that kilogram of Brazilian beef — 2.2 pounds — costs less than $1 to produce. That is almost half the cost in Australia and the United States and a third of the cost in Ireland, the Brazilian association said.

“Brazil’s sanitary conditions are better than most countries where mad cow is still a threat,” the group’s president, Marcus Vinícius Pratini de Moraes, said, “but these measures are being used to prevent Brazil from gaining access to markets. We are penalized for being competitive.”

The European Union was once Brazil’s biggest export market, but that is changing as Brazilian ranchers seek less problematic markets. Four years ago, the Europeans accounted for more than half of all Brazil’s foreign beef sales. Last year it was around a quarter. Russia has taken up much of the slack; sales there have increased fourfold from 2004 to 2007, according to the association’s figures.

A problem for the Europeans is find alternatives to the low-cost Brazilian beef. Some leading exporters like Argentina and Uruguay have little room to increase production, meaning that the ban could be bad news for European consumers.

“I think there could be shortages and prices could go up,” said Vito Martielli, a food and agribusiness analyst at Rabobank in the Netherlands.