January 11, 2007

 

Brazilian group: No dumping of pork in Argentina

 

 

Brazilian pork producers don't sell their product for below cost to Argentina, said the Brazilian Pork Producers and Exporters Association, or Abipecs, on Wednesday (Jan 10).

 

Earlier this week, the Argentine government said it was in the final stages of implementing a registry to monitor pork imports, after local pork producers complained that some Brazilian producers sold pigs for below-market prices.

 

"This has absolutely nothing to do with Brazil," said Pedro de Camargo Neto, the president of Abipecs in a phone interview with Dow Jones Newswires. "There is no dumping, It's just an old fight between Argentine pork producers and the industry, because Brazilian production costs happen to be cheaper than other producers."

 

Argentine farmers have complained that pork from the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina has been sold for prices that are 25 percent-30 percent less than pork from the state of Rio Grande do Sul, because Santa Catarina suffered from reduced pork exports after a foot-and-mouth outbreak in neighbouring Parana at the end of 2005.

 

However, "Rio Grande do Sul has a higher price for pork than all other Brazilian states," said Neto.

 

Meanwhile, if Argentine farmers have a legitimate grievance with Brazilian trade practices, then the country should follow the rules and regulations of the regional trade body, Mercosur, to which both Brazil and Argentina belong to, and lodge a complaint with that organisation, he added.

 

Argentina isn't a significant buyer of Brazilian pork, though it is Brazil's sixth largest buyer of the product.

 

In 2006, Argentina purchased 19,176 tonnes of Brazilian pork, up 11 percent from the year-ago period, according to Abipecs data.

 

The total represented about 3.6 percent of Brazil's total 2006 pork exports of 528,105 tonnes.

 

As for the future, if Argentina does decide to suspend pork sales from Brazil, after implementing the pork import registry, then Brazilian producers will simply ask Mercosur to mediate, said Neto.