ABIEC, which represents beef processors in Brazil, has revealed in its Beef Report 2022 that beef production needs to increase by 35% by 2030 to meet domestic and export demand. It also reports the forecast that numbers of cattle killed will increase from 39.1m head in 2021 to an estimated 47.5m head by 2031.

This 8m head increase is more than four times Ireland’s annual cattle kill. The overall size of the national herd in Brazil is projected to increase from 196.5m in 2021 to 203.1m in 2031.

China and Hong Kong took almost 1m tonnes of Brazil’s beef exports in 2021, with the US their next most important market on 139,000t. The EU was a relatively small market, taking 77,000t or just 4% of their total beef exports.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s institute for Space Research (INPE) revealed last month that in April, 1,012km2 of rainforest, an area bigger than counties Louth, Dublin or Carlow, was cleared. This compares with an area of 580km2 in April 2021.