March 3, 2011

Brazilian chicken producers ink deals in Dubai

Brazil's chicken producers have already closed sales at the Gulfood, the largest food sector fair in the Middle East, which began last Sunday (Feb 27) and ends on Wednesday (Mar 2), in Dubai, UAE.

According to the president at the Brazilian Poultry Union, Francisco Turra, companies present at the fair have already closed good deals. "The fair is a great benchmark for the year. A great volume of sales is closed at the fair itself. This guarantees good months of labour for Brazilian companies," said Turra.

Ubabef took to the Emirates five producers of chicken: Unifrango, Diplomata, Copacel, Globo Aves and Superfrango. The sector is participating in the fair in a group of around 30 Brazilian companies, which range from sectors like chocolate, biscuits, sweets, coffee, milk, juice and pasta, most participating with organisations in their areas.

In the chicken sector, a large part of the Brazilian offer at Gulfood is chicken griller, of the smaller kind, more consumed by the Arab market.

According to Turra, Brazil sells much chicken to the Arab world, but there are perspectives for greater exports to the region. That is because some countries, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are producing less. In Egypt there were sanitary problems and in Saudi Arabia, the government has been cutting part of the subsidies to producers.

With this, these countries need to import more, he recalled. According to the president at Ubabef, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran and Yemen imported 1.659 million tonnes of chicken last year.

The supply was from Brazil, the US and the EU. Brazil is a sales leader in the Middle East, with 1.174 million tonnes exported in 2010. And as they have preference in the region, due to factors like experience in halal, sales may rise, according to Turra.