At the last International Poultry and Pork Show of Brazil (SIAVS), held at the end of August, one of the biggest attractions was to listen to the CEOs of the country’s main poultry companies, who shared their vision of poultry production.
Mário Lanznaster, president of Aurora Alimentos; Lorival Luz, CEO of BRF; and Gilberto Tomazoni, CEO of JBS, were the speakers. Nothing more, nothing less. One of the outstanding points was that the three of them highlighted, among other things, how important the system of integrated producers – contract producers – is for the Brazilian poultry industry.
Another recurring topic was the tail wind for protein production, as well as the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak and the opportunity this represents for the swine industry, and for poultry as well. Tomazoni said that ASF makes us assess the ability of the industry to meet the larger demand. However, we should be aware that the demand in China does not come from now, but from years ago, because there have better incomes for the population and changes in consumption patterns.
There are other factors, such as the fact that the losses in China's pork production are so big that neither the United States nor Brazil together – which are two of the biggest producers – could cover them. Luz said the structures were broken, that is, the pieces have yet to be put together.
Another interesting point was what the BRF executive said of being careful not to invest too much at the moment, because it will be necessary to see how China recovers. Although it seems that so far, a large portion of the Chinese swine production was for self-consumption, there were already plans to professionalize it and to make it more industrial. Thus, it is likely that the Chinese will take advantage of the situation to accelerate the process and be more efficient.
I don't doubt it. So let's not get too excited about fully replacing pork with chicken. If the Chinese set out to do it, they will proceed with it and can leave many with their empty farms in a matter of no time. We'll see.
What do you think?
