You may not have known that Brazil is one of the largest exporters of beef in the world. Many developed countries such as the US and Japan, however, generally don’t import large amounts of beef from Brazil due to sanitary concerns. Recently, however, Brazil seems to have increased the sanitary and safety standards of the beef industry, and is in serious conversation with Japan about exporting large amounts of meat. While this may not seem like something super significant, this could greatly impact the US meat exports.
Roberto Persoa, former member of the country’s agriculture ministry committee and current president of the Brazilian Association of Beef Exporters, said “There are no longer any sanitary issues in Brazil”, when it comes to beef. Perosa also said that Brazil has “political momentum”, especially with Japan. Brazil is home to about 50,000 Japanese citizens, and Japan is home to about 200,000 Brazilians. This provides a foundation for the two countries to work together economically.
What Will Happen Between Brazil and Japan?
In the past, Japan was skeptical about the meat standards and quality found in Brazil, and typically would not import large amounts from Brazil. Instead, Brazil imports heavily from the US, around 40% of the entire countries beef in the past. Now that Brazil meets sanitary and safety standards for beef, the Japanese are likely to import large quantities of beef from Brazil. Brazil is able to produce meat of similar quality to the United States, and can do so at a much lower cost. Thus, Japan will save large sums of money by switching suppliers.
Roberto Perosa is planning on visiting Japan in February of this year, and the President of Brazil plans on visiting in March. This visits could be extremely impactful for establishing trading grounds between the two countries. It’s impossible to predict exactly how much Japan will import from Brazil, it’s safe to say that the US beef exports will certainly take a hit. In 2023, the US exported $10 billion worth of beef, $2 billion of which was to Japan. The US historically has competed with Australia to export beef, both exporting relatively similar amounts to Japan. With a high quality, low cost supplier like Japan coming into the picture, it’s likely that the US exports and GDP could decrease by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Featured Image Credit: Federico Arnaboldi; Pexels: Thank You!
