Brazil urges PHL to expand FME list to increase volume of meat exports
SÃO PAULO, Brazil—brazilian meat exporters are urging Manila to accredit more meat establishments in the Latin American country to increase their volume of shipments to the Philippines.
The Brazilian Animal Protein Association (Associação Brasileira de Proteína Animal) or ABPA said there is now an ongoing negotiation between Brasilia and Manila regarding the accreditation of more foreign meat establishments (FME) in Brazil.
ABPA Markets Director Luis Rua said they asked their government to negotiate with the Philippines to expand the list of accredited Brazilian FMES to export meat products or seek a system-wide accreditation of Brazil’s food safety system.
“We are confident [that it will succeed]. We have proven to the Philippines that we can be a partner in exporting products that can add value there,” Rua told Filipino reporters here.
Rua pointed out that Brazil showed that it is a “reliable” supplier of meat products to the Philippines, especially in the past two years when the latter is in dire need of supply due to African swine fever (ASF) consequences.
“At this moment, with the ASF there, Brazil increased its volumes to the Philippines, helping the country to [have] supply and [keep] prices [stable],” he said.
The Philippines extends two types of accreditation to foreign meat exporters: individual accreditation of FMES and a system-wide accreditation of a country.
A system accreditation means that the Philippines recognizes the exporting country’s food safety system as at par with its very own domestic system.
Under such accreditation, any exporter or FME recognized and accredited by the exporting country could export meat products to the Philippines.
An individual accreditation or an Fme-based accreditation allows only specific companies to export meat products to the Philippines.
At present, Brazil does not have a system-wide accreditation; instead individual Brazilian FMES are accredited by the Philippines. To date, there are about 54 Brazilian FMES allowed to export meat products to the Philippines.
Rua said an expansion of the list of the Brazilian FMES or a granting of a system-wide accreditation would allow Brazil to ship a wider range and higher volume of exported meat products to the Philippines.
“The Philippines will have more affordable products because [Philippine companies] have more concurrence with companies in Brazil. [Philippine companies] will see the best price for imports and this will have an impact on the population,” he said.
Despite the exponential increase in Brazilian meat exports, Rua cautioned that time will come that their shipments to the Philippines may plateau due to the limited number of accredited FMES.
“Today Brazil can export to the Philippines and most of our exports are mechanically deboned meat [MDM] that helps local industries to make products like sausages, nuggets, and things like that,” he said.
“But there will be a time that Brazil’s [exports] cannot increase the volumes anymore because today we have a very limited [number] of establishments and slaughterhouses allowed to export to the Philippines,” he added.
Rua also pointed out that the Philippines should consider making its lower tariffs on pork imports permanent, citing its “benefits” to consumer welfare.
“At the end, the final consumer will be the one who will gain from this measure [lower tariffs]. Because if not, we are putting some tariffs that probably would [make] costs of importers to be higher,” he said.
“If you lower the tariffs, of course, you will lower the price at the end for the population,” he added.
Rua earlier said that Brazil would export a record volume of chicken meat and pork to the Philippines this year driven by higher demand.
In the first half of 2022, Brazil’s pork exports to the Philippines rose by 277.7 percent to 41,863 metric tons (MT) from 11,083 MT in the same period of last year, based on ABPA data.
ABPA data showed that Brazil’s pork exports to the Philippines from January to June already surpassed its total pork exports for the entire 2021 of 33,347 MT.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s chicken meat exports to the Philippines in the first half rose by 43.7 percent yearon-year to 116,804 MT from 81,259 MT, based on ABPA data.
“For sure,” ABPA Market Director Luis Rua told Filipino reporters here, when asked if Brazil’s chicken meat exports to the Philippines this year would surpass last year’s fullyear volume.
“I believe in the next months, we will keep the same quantities [of pork exports to the Philippines]. And of course it will depend if we are ready to offer the products that you want. You can just count on us,” Rua added.
ABPA attributed the increase in Brazil’s chicken meat and pork exports to the strong demand for MDM by Philippine meat processors and the country’s need for pork products amid the consequences of ASF.