Brazilian authorities are currently scrambling to find ways of adhering to the EU rules on antibiotic usage to maintain access to the EU beef market after 3 September 2026.

The EU rules ban the use of antibiotics as growth promoters and also restrict the use of antibiotics that are critical to human health. The Irish Farmers Journal/Irish Farmers Association exposed huge issues in relation to antibiotic sales and usage on trip to Brazil in November 2025.

It was found that there was no traceability system in place to monitor or regulate the purchase or use of antibiotics in animals. Brazil is not expected to complete a nationwide individual animal traceability system until 2032, with some industry insiders saying even this date is very optimistic.

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Until this traceability system is operational, there is no way of monitoring all-of-life antimicrobial use in Brazil. This could potentially see Brazilian beef locked out of the EU market until after 2032.

The Brazilian government put forward a proposal that involved a transition to the requirements for entry into the EU market. Brazil had proposed that Brazilian beef processors would have to prove that animals hadn’t received the banned antibiotics for nine months prior to slaughter with the full lifetime traceability not to come into effect until 2029.

Understood

It is understood that the European Commission has ruled out any flexibility on the rules with the ban set to take effect on 3 September. The EU market has been of growing importance for Brazil’s beef exports.

Up to the end of the first quarter of 2026, 34,700t was shipped to the EU, an increase of 17.7% on the same period last year according to Brazilian export data.

Meanwhile, it is also understood that Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have come to an agreement on how to split up the lucrative Mercosur quota that came into effect last month.

It is understood that the quota will be split up using a formula based on 50% of past export performance to the EU and 50% on exports to the rest of the world.

This would leave Brazil with the biggest quota under the Mercosur agreement.

It is unclear as to what will happen to Brazil’s quota should the September ban on Brazilian beef come into effect.