SAO PAULO, 31 — Brazil’s beef exports should total 2.654 million tons of carcasses in 2022, according to a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) attachment in Brasilia. The volume represents an increase of 2% compared to the 2021 estimate of 2.602 million tonnes. This year exports are expected to grow by 2.5% compared to 2020, mainly due to strong demand from China.
Beef production should increase by 2.1% from 9.5 million to 9.7 million tonnes in 2022. For Attic, the increase should reflect greater availability of cattle for slaughter and improved margins for slaughterhouses. The USDA also highlighted that most of this growth will happen in the second half of 2022.
For 2021, Attach forecasts a 6% drop in production compared to 2020, despite higher prices. The main reason for the shortage is the low availability of cattle for slaughter. “Furthermore, with cattle prices so high, meatpackers are not able to pass the cost on to consumers, largely due to declining consumer incomes during the pandemic,” the USDA said.
Beef consumption in Brazil is expected to increase by 2.7% to 7.121 million tonnes in 2022. For 2021, the estimate is 6.934 million tonnes, a decrease of 8.9%. Attach said the fall in consumption this year is due to higher product prices.
