Brazil, the world's largest poultry exporter and the main exporter of poultry meat to the European Union, is now banned from sending poultry and meat products to the EU due to the bird flu outbreak, the European Commission said on Monday.
On Friday, Brazil confirmed an outbreak of bird flu at a poultry farm.
"EU import conditions require that the exporting country [Brazil] is not affected by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)," a European Commission spokesperson said.
"Brazilian authorities can no longer sign animal health certificates for export to the EU and these certificates can no longer be issued. No meat or poultry products can be exported to the EU from any part of Brazilian territory," the spokesperson said.
Brazil's Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro said on Friday that, under existing protocols, countries such as China, the European Union and South Korea will ban poultry imports from Brazil for 60 days.
However, the Commission did not give any deadline.
The European Commission stressed that, due to the outbreak of bird flu - which was detected on a farm in the state of Rio Grande do Sul - the entire territory of Brazil has suspended its official status of being "free from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza".
Import conditions into the EU require that the exporting country is not affected by HPAI.
The EU is a small market for Brazil, which is dominated by China, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
In 2024, Brazil exported more than 5 million tons of poultry meat. Of that, about 4.4% went to the EU, according to national pork and poultry group ABPA.
Of total poultry meat imports into the EU, Brazil is the main source, accounting for around 32% last year, according to official EU data.
However, the volume remained quite low as most of the EU's consumption is covered by domestic production./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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