With India unavailable, Middle East turns to Brazilian beef - ANBA News Agency

São Paulo – Brazilian beef sales to Middle East countries are on their way up as availability of buffalo meat from India goes down. Coronavirus knocked down currencies around the world, and Brazil’s real was one of those that slid the most relative to the US dollar. Although this isn’t a good thing for many aspects of the economy, a strong dollar is beneficial to exports since it makes Brazilian products more competitive at an international level. “South America in general, and Brazil in particular, is ideally suited to supply the beef that the world needs,” said João Sampaio. Sampaio said China stepped up its imports last year as a result of swine flu, as well as due to rising income and a populational shift towards urban areas, which drove up beef consumption. “And other major countries like Indonesia – which has a population of 300 million, a fast-growing economy, and which used to import meats basically from Australia – are embracing Western habits, like eating more beef. Demand is consistent across the entire Middle East and North Africa,” the Minerva Foods Institutional Relations director said. Brazil’s beef industry is in a relatively good situation, in great part due to demand from abroad, the speakers in the webinar said. According to Bovo, companies are keeping less cattle in confinement, due to unfavorable replacement costs and misgivings regarding future prices, among other factors. He believes that in case the economy bounces back in the second half and drives up consumption, there might be a problem with beef supplies.