Brazil's 2018 halal food exports may hit$5bn -certification firm

SAO PAULO, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Brazilianhalal food exports grew about 10 percent in 2018, the country’s largest halalcertification firm said on Tuesday, despite fallout from a food sector scandaland a truckers’ strike that disrupted meat production last year.

FAMBRAS Halal estimates sales of Brazilianhalal food, including chicken, beef, honey and cheese, rose to almost $5billion in the period despite the industry’s multiple woes, it said in astatement.

“We failed to grow more as we had a verycomplicated year,” Ali Hussein El Zoghbi, vice-president at the certificationcompany, said in the statement.

Zoghbi cited the truckers’ strike last Maythat disrupted supplies and exports as well as a sprawling investigation intocollusion to avoid safety checks in the food sector, which damaged thereputations of several major meat packers and led to trade bans.

“These elements hampered chicken and beefproduction, the major items responsible for the sector’s high revenue,” hesaid.

Brazil is by far the world’s largestexporter of halal meat, which complies with Muslim dietary rules.

But a tentative proposal by Brazil’sright-wing President Jair Bolsonaro to relocate the country’s embassy in Israelfrom Tel Aviv to Jerusalem could jeopardize that position.

Rubens Hannun, president of the Arab-BrazilChamber of Commerce, said relocating the embassy could create “noise” inBrazil’s commercial relationship with Arab nations and open the door for thecompetition.

According to the chamber, Brazil’s totalexports to a grouping of 22 Arab countries, which excludes non-Arab Muslimcountries such as Iran, to swell to $20 billion by 2022, up from $13.5 billionin 2017. (Reporting by Ana Mano Editing by Susan Thomas)

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