Sheep industry in Brazil: balance of 2013 and outlook for 2014

Abstract

In the early 2000s, sheep industry began to occupy a prominent position in Brazilian agribusiness, attracting investors and being recognized as a new alternative for farming diversification. Many breeders and new industries emerged, motivated by the deficit between production and demand for lamb in the country, which leads to the import of hundreds of thousands of tons of sheep meat every year. Nearly a decade has passed since the initial euphoria, which saw intense inflow of breeders to the activity, and this essay aims to make a brief summary of important facts occurred in 2013 regarding this supply chain, and to present some perspectives for next year. The evolution of the following topics is addressed: i) legal and illegal slaughter, ii) imports of sheep meat, iii) slaughter of females and its impact on market, iv) prices for domestic and imported products, v) governmental initiatives on the sake of the activity. What we see is that many advances have been made, but many challenges still exist for the consolidation of the activity.