SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) — Brazil’s beef exports jumped 25 percent in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the same period a year earlier, thanks to a more favourable exchange rate and increased demand abroad.
The country shipped 324,500 tonnes abroad in the first three months of 2013. Profits from those exports rose 18 percent to $1.44 billion.
Profits increased even though the average price per tonne of beef fell 5.5 percent to $4.62 in March compared with $4.88 from the same month a year earlier.
“The exchange rate is helping, the average price fell and this increased the volume exported, we were more competitive,” said Fernando Sampaio, the executive director of Abiec, the country’s main beef industry group.
