Family-scale producers who are dedicated to fattening chickens to supply the local industry have “worry, restlessness and fear” before a eventual massive arrival of Brazilian poultry meat to the Uruguayan markethighlighted to The Observer Daniel Pereyra, referent of the National Cooperative of Façoneros de Pollos Unidos (Conafpu).
As he explained, In March of this year and “surprisingly”, the government freed chicken imports, dismantling the 120-ton monthly limit agreed with Brazil, “which acted as an anti-flood insurance”. He added: “We never know when a market is going to be complicated for Brazil and decide to send us the overstock at a specific moment, destroying our poultry value chain”.
Pereyra said that the intention is to ask the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP) for a report on imports (month by month) of chicken meat from Brazil and to issue an opinion on the status of the quota system with that country. .
“We fear that not reactivating the operation of the quota could generate in the future, when it has to be imposed due to force majeure, legal problems with importers and politicians with Brazil,” he added. Another aspect that he pointed out is that it is not about stimulating protectionismso much so that “it is demonstrated that Uruguay had a considerable opening prior to the liberalization of imports, beyond that quota with Brazil that guarantees avoiding a momentary flood.”
Protectionism?
On this subject, he remarked that “Uruguay is relatively competitive in the domestic market”, after which he recalled that imports from the United States (the world’s leading producer and second largest exporter in the world) have been authorized and released since 2014; that in 2018 imports from Argentina (another important producer) were authorized, where producers through the withholdings applied to grains receive an indirect subsidy; and that imports from Chile (another important exporter) have also been released several years ago, from where they mostly come from frozen supremes and elaborated nuggets.
john samuel
Shed with broiler chickens, in Canelones.
A monster
Returning to the case of Brazil, “it is a monster” in this productive sector, warned Pereyra, as is the case in several other areas of the economy. It is the world’s largest exporter of chicken meat, followed by the United States, the European Union, Thailand and Turkey.
He later recounted that until 2010 Uruguay was prohibited from importing poultry meat from Brazil, based on a difference in health status; Although Brazil did not have Newcastle outbreaks, it vaccinated broiler chickens, something prohibited in Uruguay.
In that framework, Brazil was pushing for authorization through barriers to dairy and rice, said; In addition to that, the OIE did not recognize the status of free with vaccination, that is, either it had Newcastle or it did not. And it was feared, as is logical, that an authorization for chicken imports from Brazil would lead the poultry sector down the same path that the pig production chain traveled, reflected Pereyra.
He later said that Brazilian producers saw the non-qualification of Uruguay as a stain on their file that complicated them internationally, and they wanted to solve it, a greater interest than selling to the Uruguayan market. Then, after an intergovernmental agreement, the executive president of the Brazilian Poultry Union (Ubabef), Francisco Turra, indicated that the opening of the Uruguayan market was done together with a voluntary limitation by Brazilian exporters, so as not to harm the Uruguayan poultry.
It was so An agreement was signed that allowed the qualification of Brazil, generating at the same time a mechanism of relative protection, which avoided the decimation of the national poultry industry. This agreement established a monthly quota of 120 non-cumulative tons of whole frozen chicken. Although since 2010 the quota of 120 tons per month has been enabled, importers seldom used the full volume allowedMoreover, it is notorious that many months it was not even imported, because the difference in prices did not make it viable, he commented.
john samuel
Daniel Pereyra, reference in the Conafpu cooperative.
the Uruguayan sector
Poultry meat in Uruguay is the second in volume of consumption and the one with the lowest average price, highlighted Pereyra. She also reported that the sector generates more than 4,000 direct jobs, with almost 60% of these positions occupied by women, that the activity of free-range chicken farming has allowed many smallholder producers and their collaborators, and that towns like San Bautista, Santa Rosa and others owe their high employment rates to poultry activity.
He highlighted that in 2020 the “black boxes” were inaugurated, a system that allows avoiding evasion while achieving monitoring at the time of slaughter levels, both in kilos and in units. In 2021, 15,239,398 chickens were slaughtered, 10.71% more than in 2020. In the year ended June 2022, growth was 4.23%, with 15,884,299 slaughtered chickens. The data speak of a growing sector, also based on the fact that the slaughter has shown that more kilos of meat are being achieved per slaughtered product. In any case, there are some adversities, such as the significant increases in grain prices in recent yearssaid Pereira.
