Brazil: Growing exports and falling costs ease the retraction of the price paid to the producer

The retraction in prices paid to pig farmers that started in March persists in April (graph 1). However, unlike chicken and beef (charts 2 and 3), which have experienced a sharper drop this year, pork prices still surpass the levels of early 2022. Fresh pork exports have surpassed 2022 volumes (Table 1) with a historic record for the period. Compared to the first 3 months of last year, the increase has already accumulated more than 32 thousand tons (+15.04%), highlighting that the growth in shipments to China is even more expressive, with an increase of almost 23 thousand tons in the period (+28%). In this first quarter, China accounted for 42.7% of the volumes exported by Brazil, against 38.3% in the same period last year, confirming a resumption of growth in imports from the Asian giant. In the month of March/23 alone, China accounted for only 36% of our shipments, an indication that the search for new markets has compensated for fluctuations in Chinese demand. When analyzing ...