Brazilian beef exports have plunged to their lowest point in five years in the wake of the Operation Weak Flesh meat scandal, which rocked Brazil’s beef industry back in March.

The latest export figures from Brazil show that exports of chilled and frozen beef plunged by close to a fifth (-19%) for the month of April to just over 70,200t.

This is the lowest volume of beef exported from Brazil in a single month since April 2012.

The primary reason for the decline in exports is due to a significant fall-off in orders from buyers in Brazil’s major exports markets. Exports to China, which account for 20% of all Brazilian beef shipments, dropped off sharply (-40%) in April to just under 12,000t. This is a 7,500t decline in beef export volumes compared with the previous month.

Other major markets to reduce beef export orders last month included Brazil’s second largest export market, Hong Kong, where shipments were back 10% to less than 15,000t.

Orders from Russia, Brazil’s third largest beef market, were down 40% to 9,700t, while beef exports to Iran for April more than halved (-53%) to 4,650t.

Read more

Brazil cattle prices take a hit

Full coverage: Brazil