Paranaguí¡ Wishes to Be Brazil’s Number 1 Meat Exporter

Paranaguá port, in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná, wants to become Brazil's leading meat export terminal. With that objective, it has created the Corridor for Frozen Products of Paraná. The new structure is going to have six special docking cradles and warehouses for slaughterhouse cargo with capacity for 58,000 tons.

Furthermore, it should count on a 370,000 square meter container storage yard, and a railway branch in the primary zone – the port's internal area, where loading and unloading operations are carried out.

The project for the Corridor for Frozen Products of Paraná arose out of a partnership between the Paranaguá and Antonina Ports Administration, a state organization that manages the two terminals, and six private companies: Ponta do Félix Terminal, Martini Meat, Standard Logí­stica, América Latina Logí­stica (ALL), Paranaguá Container Terminal (TCP), and Wilson, Sons.

The partnership is intended to increase the terminal's meat throughput by 50,000 tons per month.

The aim is to provide exporters with logistics and storage, and thus ensure the cargo volume and the interest in making stops at the port.

"Brazil is the leading meat exporter country in the world. Almost 50% of all meat exported worldwide comes from Brazil. Every option available for making exports faster is great, and this project in Paranaguá represents another good option. Here we will be able to have, in the future, the largest meat export corridor in Brazil," forecasts the minister of Agriculture, Reinhold Stephanes.

In 2007, out of the 3,169,000 tons of chicken meat exported from Brazil, 44% left through the state of Santa Catarina (South), 35% through Paraná (South) and 7% through São Paulo (Southeast).

With regard to pork meat, out of 538,000 tons exported, 67% left from Santa Catarina, 16% from Paraná and 1% from São Paulo. For beef, out of 1,862,000 tons exported in 2007, only 5% left from Paraná, 16% left from Santa Catarina, and 77% from São Paulo.

Omar Nasser works for the Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná (Fiep).