February 16, 2006

Brazil's chicken exports unaffected by bird flu

International concern over the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu would not reverse Brazil's chicken-export growth, the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA), a Brazilian farm lobby, said Wednesday.

"Everyone in the business is worried about consumption dropping in Europe and elsewhere out of bird flu scares, but there is just no evidence that bird flu fears are going to slow Brazil's chicken exports," said Antenor Nogueira, president of the confederation.

The H5N1 bird flu virus has not been found in Brazil.

Brazil is the world's biggest chicken exporter by volume, exporting 2.8 million tonnes of fresh and frozen chicken in 2005, compared with 2.4 million tonnes in 2004 and 1.9 million tonnes in 2003.

Bird flu has Brazil's top poultry exporters, Sadia SA and Perdigao SA, worried about falling consumption in Europe and increasing chicken stocks in storage in both Europe and Brazil, which could lead to a drop in exports in 2006.

"Nobody wants to place their bets on chicken exports, but I think it's possible to expand another 5 percent," said Otto Xavier, an analyst at Jox Assessoria Agropecuaria, a market research firm for the livestock industry.

"The negative is that there are lots of chicken frozen in Sadia warehouses and in countries like Italy that are eating less chicken because of bird flu fears," Xavier said.

CNA's Nogueira based his assessment on the fact that Brazilian beef exports rose to 2.9 million tonnes of fresh and processed beef in 2005, compared with 1.9 million tonnes in 2004, despite beef bans by 56 countries due to FMD found in Mato Grosso do Sul in October and in Parana state in December.