Brazil prepares to export poultry meat to Egypt

The announcement was made during a visit of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo.

The Egyptian government recognised the equivalence of the Brazilian inspection system and elevated Brazil to the ‘pre-listing’ category for exporting animal proteins. The measure benefits at least 30 slaughterhouses that were waiting for this authorisation to ship products for more than 4 years.

Before this agreement, the renewal of the license of Brazilian establishments for export required in-person audits by Egyptian authorities, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa).

The procedure not only implied high costs for Brazilian exporters, but also overloaded Mapa’s federal agricultural tax auditors and limited the number of establishments authorised to export to Egypt.

Since 2019, around 30 Brazilian establishments have been on the ‘waiting list’ to obtain authorisation. Now, with pre-listing, there is no longer this requirement.

Health control

According to Roberto Perosa, secretary of commerce and international relations at Mapa, the ‘pre-listing’ reflects confidence in Brazilian health control.

“Egypt demonstrates the strength and growth potential of established trade relations. Last year alone, we conquered 4 new markets in Egypt, including cotton. The country is the sixth largest importer of beef from Brazil, and leader in the import of Brazilian poultry meat in Africa,” said Perosa.

​In December, the African country opened its market for quail-fertilized eggs from Brazil.

In 2023, Brazil exported more than US$1.7 billion in products to Egypt, of which US$384 million, corresponding to 22%, were meat, totaling more than 130,000 tonnes exported.