November 12, 2007

 

Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul declared free of FMD with vaccination

 

 

The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture has declared the state of Mato Grosso do Sul is now recognized as an "area free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) with vaccination programme."

 

The government's decision was published in the Official Registry on Thursday (November 11).

 

Since 2005, the state had been banned from exporting or distributing livestock and meat since 2005 due to FMD.

 

Brazilian Minister of Agriculture Reinhold Stephanes said Brazil can now export from its 13 main producing regions that have the same status of FMD-free with vaccination. The only state free of FMD without a vaccination program is Santa Catarina in the southeastern part of the country.

 

A technical mission of the European Union and a delegation from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) will visit Mato Grosso do Sul in December to confirm and upgrade the state's FMD status.

 

According to Stephanes, Brazilian beef, pork and chicken exports will grow 25 percent in 2007 compared to 2006, and the trend is to grow up to 15 percent in 2008 over this year.

 

On the other hand, Brazil Meat Export Association President Marcus Vinicius Pratini de Moraes warned that Brazilian beef exports may not increase greatly as a result of the country's tarnished image in the overseas market.

 

He predicted, however, that exports will not increase greatly due to strong domestic beef demand and more favourable domestic prices. He put the increase in demand within Brazil at between 150,000 and 200,000 tonnes per year.

 

The trend is that beef exports will increase between 5 percent and 6 percent in 2007, and similar growth is expected for 2008. What is important is that Brazil should show the world that it doesn't have animal diseases like FMD or mad cow disease, Pratini emphasized.

 

Brazilian states free from FMD with vaccination are: Acre, Bahia, Espirito Santo, Goias, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Para (South Central region), Parana, Rio de Janeiro, Rondonia, Rio Grande do Sul, Sergipe, Sao Paulo and Tocantins.