The world's largest poultry exporter can no longer ship products to the European Union

The European Commission announced on Monday that Brazil, the world's largest poultry exporter and the main supplier of poultry products to the EU, is banned from working in the Union due to the spread of bird flu. This is reported by the Reuters news agency.

Brussels' decision was made after Brazil confirmed the detection of an outbreak of bird flu on a poultry farm on Friday, which led to a ban on trade with the country from China, the largest buyer of Brazilian poultry meat, as well as restrictions from other large consumers, such as Japan.

"EU import conditions require that there is no highly pathogenic avian influenza in the exporting country (Brazil)," said a representative of the European Commission.

"Brazilian authorities can no longer sign animal health certificates for export to the EU, and such certificates can no longer be issued. No poultry products can be exported to the EU from any part of Brazil's territory," the European official added.

Brazilian Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro confirmed that, in accordance with existing protocols, a number of countries, including China, the European Union and South Korea, have banned poultry shipments from Brazil for 60 days.

The EU is a relatively small market for Brazil, the main consumers of poultry from which are China, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. In 2024, the country exported more than 5 million tons of poultry meat. According to ABPA, a professional organization representing the interests of Brazilian exporters of poultry, pork and eggs, only about 4.4% of this volume was sent to the EU.