Brazil wants to significantly expand pig herd

This is reported by the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA). In the first quarter of this year, Brazilian pork production increased by 4%. Brazilian pork production also increased by a similar percentage in the second quarter. Carcass weight decreased slightly in the first quarter, but the number of slaughters increased to 11,3 million pigs. That is 5% more than the first quarter of 2018.

Exports to China increased by 29% compared to the first quarter of last year to more than 92.000 tons. 26.000 tons of pork went to Russia. In addition to the sharply increased demand from China and the regained market access to Russia, domestic demand is also increasing. In its long-term Market Outlook presented at the beginning of July, the OECD expects Brazilian pork exports to increase year on year. Unlike Chile, Brazil has not exported a significant volume of pork to the European Union in recent years. 

No longer the cheapest
Brazil occupies a relatively modest fourth place on the list of the largest pork exporters worldwide. The European Union and the United States are by far the largest exporters on the world market. The cost price of fattening pigs worldwide is lowest in Brazil and the United States, at around €1 per kilo of slaughtered weight.

In recent years, Brazil, the United States and Canada have taken turns as the cheapest suppliers of pork on the world market. This spring, Brazil was by far the cheapest, but the price of Brazilian pork has now risen to €1,40, which is 10 cents more than the price that Canada collects for pork.

In line with the cost price, pork in the European Union has been on average several euros per kilo of slaughtered weight more expensive for years than in the other major exporting countries to the world market. The selling price of pork in the United States has shown the greatest fluctuations in recent years.