An area of rainforest in excess of 11,000ha will be cleared in Brazil this year, the largest annual clearance since 2008.

This has been revealed by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which is part of Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

This revelation will increase pressure on the EU further ahead of ratification of the trade deal agreed with the Mercosur countries in June 2019.

It also comes at a time when the EU is pushing farmers into adopting the Farm to Fork strategy as the model for EU farming for the next decade and beyond as a contribution to the target of being a carbon-neutral continent by 2050.

MEPs in particular are exercised by what is happening in Brazil, having subjected the recently appointed Trade Commissioner to a grilling on the subject in his ratification hearing before parliament.

Increasing trend

The clearance of 11,000ha projected for this year is up from 10,100ha in 2019.

Deforestation had been reducing since the peak of 27,800ha cleared in 2005 and reached a low point of 4,600ha in 2012.

It had been creeping back up since then, reaching 7,500ha in 2018 and jumping by 25% to over 10,100ha a year later.

This is very much attributed to the election of President Bolsonaro, who took control in January 2019 and has a global reputation for being hostile to initiatives related to tacking climate change.

Brazil is the world’s largest beef exporter, estimated at just under 2m tonnes this year.

Sales to the EU are down on recent years due to the combined effect of the pandemic wrecking demand in the catering sector across the EU and record demand from China.

Of the 1.6m tonnes China imported in the first nine months of this year, 605,000t came from Brazil, a massive increase on the 237,000t it imported in 2019.

Mercosur deal

The EU agreed a trade deal with the Mercosur group of countries in South America, including Brazil, in June 2019, giving them reduced tariff access for a further 99,000t of beef.

However, this year’s disruption to the EU market, alongside the buoyant demand from China, means that their focus on the EU market has been much less than it has been in recent years.

The EU has been in no rush to ratify the deal which also needs approval by individual states.

Revelations like this from a state agency in Brazil, plus the inherent hostility of the European Parliament, means that the Mercosur trade deal has a long way to travel before it comes into effect in the EU.

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