June 14, 2006

Brazil tries to lift Russian ban on its pork

Brazil's Agriculture Minister, Roberto Rodrigues, is in Russia to discuss the partial suspension of meat exports from Brazil, the Agriculture Ministry said Monday (Jun 12). 

An Agriculture Ministry spokesman said Brazil hopes to remove the Russian ban on pork exports from Brazil's top pork exporting state, Santa Catarina.

Russia has been banning Brazilian beef exports from most Brazilian states since an outbreak of

foot-and-mouth disease was discovered in cattle last year in Mato Grosso do Sul and Parana states. More than 35,000 animals, including pigs, have been slaughtered to prevent the disease from spreading outside of a roughly 25-kilometer quarantined zone.

Russia is Brazil's top beef market and used to be its top pork market.

While pork exports to Russia fell 31 percent to 38,026 tonnes compared to the first four months of last year, beef exports rose 51 percent to 71,750 compared to 37,391 tonnes over the same period.

Meat exporters have been able to work around the bans through re-exporters.