Brazil prepares to export poultry meat to Egypt

Brazil and Egypt have signed an agreement to facilitate exports of poultry, pork and beef meat to the African country. 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 ...