A Drovers article says officials in Brazil are still expecting to resume exporting fresh beef product to the U.S. early next year.
The Brazilian Ag Minister spoke at a recent news conference, saying that his country expects beef exports to the U.S. will “resume very soon.” However, the USDA still hasn’t commented on whether or not they will lift its ban on fresh beef from Brazil.
It was back in June that the U.S. suspended beef imports from Brazil over safety concerns. That came after the U.S. had previously rejected 1.9 million pounds of Brazilian beef from March to June. Authorities say the rejections came from abscesses on the meat products caused by a bad reaction to the Foot-and-Mouth vaccine.
Brazil is the world’s largest beef exporter and the country is forecasting exports to grow by 10 percent next year, after going nine percent higher in 2017. The nine percent increase came in spite of a corruption scandal that led to food safety concerns and the temporary loss of export markets around the world. The bullish projections are based, in part, on the U.S. lifting its ban next year, as Brazil is expecting.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.