Pig industry in Brazil: situation, recent dynamics and outlook

During the last decade, Brazil has become one of the first players on world beef and poultry meat world trade. Pork sales have surged, too. Liberalization of trade and decreasing tariffs under the current WTO negotiations would bring a further extension of volumes.Nowadays, pork exports are mainly concentrated towards Russia and for the remaining part on many countries, generally of low purchasing power, for small volumes. The sanitary status of the country does not allow exports to European Union and Japan.From 1999, exports have drawn the expansion of production as the internal pork meat demand stagnated. The southern basin including the main pig state, Santa Catarina has achieved a great part of the growth of production and exports.Its performances rely on a pig industry with a dual structure : generally small farms and pig units, in contracts with a few huge pork and poultry meat slaughtering and processing companies.The Center-West (Mato Grosso) is the other zone of expansion with recent heavy investments in large pigs units. Corn and space availability, phasing out environmental constraints, are serious advantages.Brazilian low production costs and good level of downstream industries give competitive edge for next future. But in the Center West, infrastructures in processing industry and in transport are to be built.