July 2, 2007

Brazil's Perdigao to hike its beef sales in the Middle East

Brazilian food conglomerate Perdigao intends to expand its cattle beef sales to the Arab countries by 2007/2008 according to Brazil-Arab news agency (ANBA).

Alexandre Alves Sala, Perdigao's general manager of cattle beef division, said the Arabs' interest on the company's beef products after a delegation of six Arab businessmen paid a visit to the Perdigao head offices, in the southeastern Brazilian state of Sao Paulo on June 26.

The company, world-renowned for its chicken meat production, entered the bovine sector approximately two years ago with export destinations reaching the Arab states, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Libya. According to Sala, cattle beef exports to the region should expand to include other countries, as soon as expansion works are concluded at a slaughterhouse in the midwestern Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, which the company purchased this year.

For the time being, the unit slaughters 500 animals a day and is expected to rise to 2,000 between the end of this year and the beginning of the next, according to the company executives. Both the bovine and the chicken products are sold in the international market under the Perdix brand. Currently, Perdigao slaughters 600 cattle per day, but that figure should increase to 6,000 animals by 2011. Exports, according to Salas, answer to 70 percent of production and the Arab states import 40 to 50 percent of the total. Arab countries have begun importing beef products from Perdigao since October 2005, said Salas.