Brazil has detected Newcastle disease at a turkey farm in the southern state of Santa Catarina, Agriculture Minister André de Paula said on Monday, 19 October, raising concern about shipments from the world's largest exporter of chicken meat.
Newcastle disease is a highly contagious viral disease of birds. Officials said sanitary measures had been put in place and were expected to affect 133 farms in the region, and that all relevant information would be shared with Brazil's main trading partners. Acting secretary for agricultural trade Rafael Requião said it was too early to say whether any importer would suspend purchases.
China is the main concern. Brazil's trade protocol with China provides for poultry exports to be suspended after a Newcastle outbreak, the meat industry association ABPA said, triggering an automatic embargo before Chinese authorities decide whether restrictions should cover the whole state or only an area around the affected farm.
There is a precedent. China halted imports from Rio Grande do Sul after a Newcastle case on a commercial farm in that state in 2024, and lifted the ban only earlier this year. Analysts at Citi said Santa Catarina accounts for around 15% of Brazilian poultry production, so the scope of any restriction matters.
Requião's office said the facts would be shared with partners as they emerge; for now the size of any trade disruption depends on how China and other buyers draw the boundary. The Poultry Site's report draws on Reuters.
Photo: Irvin calicut (domestic turkeys) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: The Poultry Site
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