The Secretary of Economic Development of Rio Grande do Sul, Ernani Polo, yesterday requested support from the Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA) of China to allow new refrigeration facilities for pigs, livestock and poultry in Rio Grande do Sul. The request was forwarded to the executive secretary of Mapa, Irajá Lacerda, and was part of a series of Polo meetings in the federal capital.

The action aims to take advantage of President Lula’s trip to China, scheduled for March 27-29. “Our expectation is that state recognition as FMD free without vaccination can be recalled during the mission, as it opens the doors to purchasing bone-in pork, shipping of offal, and the qualification of the plants”, he explained. The presidential entourage is expected to include businessmen and government officials from Rio Grande do Sul, such as the Director of Trade Promotion and International Relations of the Development Secretariat, Evaldo da Silva Júnior.

The trip is also eagerly awaited by Brazil’s meatpacking industries, especially after beef shipments to China were suspended since February. The interruption obeyed the health protocol signed between the two countries after Brazil confirmed a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), popularly known as “mad cow disease”, in Pará. With the seal of a Canadian laboratory accredited to the World Organization for Animal Health (WHOA) that the case of the disease is atypical (it was not transmitted by another animal), it is expected that that, until the time of the visit, purchases resumed, while China absorbs more than 50% of Brazilian beef exports.