Source: Bob Moser, MEATINGPLACE, 11/12/14


Aurora Alimentos will be the first Brazilian processor to export pork to the United States, with an initial shipment going out of Santa Catarina state today and headed for Florida.

The U.S. opened its pork market to Brazil in 2012 and Aurora's plant, in the city of Chapecó, was approved in September of that year. More than two years have passed since then because of complications over the need for export production registration by USDA, said Dilvo Casagranda, general manager of foreign trade. 

Access to the American market is not easy: Beyond the strict sanitary requirements, the country is a major producer of pork. But there is an opportunity for products with bone, especially ribs and loin, Casagranda said, with the most promising segment seen as fast food and restaurant demand.

The US ranks as the world's top exporter of pork, third-largest pork producer and seventh-largest import market. Because of that, Aurora is moderately optimistic for sales to the US and is aiming to move two to four containers per month, or 50 to 100 tons per month.

“They are modest volumes in terms of international trade, but the goal of Aurora is to gradually enter and consolidate in the American market,” Casagranda said. “We still need to learn and better understand the behavior of that market to explore its possibilities, but it is hardly a market of large volume. Maybe some good opportunities will arise.” 

With more than 800 products across the poultry, pork, dairy and ready foods segments, Aurora Alimentos is one of Brazil's biggest food companies, an agribusiness conglomerate made up of 12 cooperatives. The company boasts processing capacity of 16,500 swine per day and 858,000 birds per day, now exports poultry and pork to more than 60 countries, and should surpass BRL6 billion ($2.3 billion) in sales revenue this year. 

Two 40-foot containers with capacity of 25 metric tons each have been sold so far, with one destined for the Everglades Port in Florida this week. The first 40-foot container will include primarily pork rib and loin, while the second container going to another client in December will include 25 tons of rib, loin, rib tip and other cuts.

Because this is being treated as a trial order with the American clients, Aurora would not disclose the value of the export deal or the names of the clients.

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