SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazilian Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias said on Monday that Canada had cleared imports of beef and pork from Brazil.
“We are in Ottawa and have just left the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture with … great news: the opening up of the country’s pork and beef market,” she tweeted.
Canada’s Agriculture Ministry and Brazilian beef lobby Abiec did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Dias, who traveled to Canada to speak with local suppliers of fertilizers, especially potash companies, said now Brazilian meatpackers are able to export products to more than 200 markets around the world, which was her goal when she took over the ministry more than three years ago.
Dias said she had several meetings with fertilizer companies lined up for the day.
Brazilian pork and poultry lobby ABPA welcomed the announcement, but noted that the clearance for pork currently affects only establishments in Santa Catarina, as the Southern state was the only one recognized as free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) without vaccination at the time of the initial request.
Santa Catarina accounts for more than 50% of Brazil’s pork exports, ABPA said in a statement. Negotiations with Canadian authorities are ongoing to include new areas already recognized as free of the disease by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
(Reporting by Ana Mano, Gabriel Araújo and Peter Frontini; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Richard Chang)
