July 5, 2011 

South Africa reopens to pork from Brazil

The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) has announced the reopening of the South African market to pork from Brazil.

The president of the Brazilian Association of Producers and Exporters of Pork (ABIPECS), Pedro de Camargo Neto, congratulated the ministry and said that the step corrects irregularities that were totally at odds with international trade rules supported by the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

"We congratulate the MAP Minister Wagner Rossi, Secretary of International Relations, Celio Porto, and the director of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Issues, Otavio Cançado, for the reopening of the South African market," said Camargo Neto.

South Africa banned imports of beef and pork from the whole of Brazil in 2005 because of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in cattle in Mato Grosso do Sul.

"The measure should have lasted and could have been tolerated for a few weeks. Never for almost six years," said the president of ABIPECS.

After the FMD outbreak in 2005, MAP immediately restricted the movement of animals, preventing the disease from spreading across the country.

ABIPECS said that it is essential that all paperwork necessary for the immediate resumption of shipments of pork to South Africa is completed immediately.