Viviane Rios Balbino, charge d’affaires at the Brazilian embassy. PICTURE: Joey Aguilar


Joey Aguilar
Staff Reporter

The Brazilian embassy in Doha is hoping that the ban on the country's beef in Qatar will be lifted soon.

"The meat is absolutely safe,” charge d’affaires Viviane Rios Balbino told Gulf Times yesterday.

“It has been okay in Brazil for a while already and everything is under control,” she explained, while pointing out that all other countries have lifted the ban on Brazilian beef, except Qatar.

The ban was imposed after the Brazilian government announced one isolated case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) early in 2013, according to Balbino. It is commonly known as the “mad cow” disease.

While the World Organisation of Animal Health declared that Brazil is free of the disease, she recounted that some countries limited their imports at the time, including sanitary authorities in Qatar.

Since the start of 2013, Balbino said the embassy had provided the needed technical information to concerned authorities to prove that there is no reason for fear against the quality of Brazilian beef.

“In the past, we got assurances from the Ministry of Environment that the ban would be lifted, but the Brazilian government is still waiting for that measure to be taken,” she added.

Balbino disclosed that Brazil is a major exporter of poultry and beef to all GCC countries and one of its largest food producers (Sadia), has recently opened a plant in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Citing a recent embassy report, she said that Brazil exported 36,000 tonnes of chicken meat to Qatar from January to October, amounting to $60mn.

Balbino also noted that the poultry being offered in most supermarkets in Qatar are from Brazil. “I think we hold something like 70% of the market.”

She said Brazil used to export a considerable volume of beef to Qatar before the ban was imposed due to one BSE case.

Since then, the embassy has been working with the authorities in the country in trying to lift the ban.

The embassy official also stressed that their Halal installations and facilities had been inspected by proper authorities who travelled to Brazil.

“We are 100% halal certified, that is why we are able to export such a huge volume,” she said.

Besides poultry, Brazil mainly exports aluminum oxide and iron ore to Qatar. Its main imports include urea and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

From January to October this year, Brazil’s total exports to Qatar reached $309mn while imports totalled $491mn.

“Those numbers are in line with what we observed in 2012 and 2013. In 2013, Brazil imports were $581mn and exported $334mn,” she said. “The bilateral commerce is stable but it is a significant one, it sums up to almost $1bn.”

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