Mexico opens the door to Brazilian meat in an attempt to mitigate inflation

Fresh Bone-In Beef

Published Mar 7, 2023

Tridge summary

Mexico announced sanitary requirements on Monday that open the door for the first time to the importation of beef from Brazil, while the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador seeks sources of food supply to combat high levels of inflation. Santa Catarina state will be able to export fresh, refrigerated or frozen meat with bone since it has foot-and-mouth disease status without vaccination, said the Secretary of Agriculture (Sader) in a statement. Another 14 Brazilian states, among which are important producers such as Goiás, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, will be able to export to Mexico only matured and boneless meat given their sanitary status free of foot-and-mouth disease with vaccination. Mexico's endorsement of Brazilian meat has been criticized by local producers who warn of health risks. Brazil has tried for years to get the North American country to grant it authorization to send meat to its territory.

Original content

López Obrador has launched a couple of programs to combat inflation, which has shown no signs of slowing down, mainly the underlying one, a better parameter to measure the trajectory of prices, which has led the Bank of Mexico to raise its key rate to the current 11%. Last week, the president said he had talked with several of his Latin American counterparts to launch a joint plan against inflation that would include the elimination of tariffs and other measures to trade food and merchandise. Sader also reported that Brazil maintained its negligible risk health status for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), known as "mad cow" ...

Source: Expansion