USA, Brazil Poultry Industries Cooperate,
Even While Competing

Jim Sumner of the USAPEEC (left) and Francisco Turra of ABEF are all smiles after signing a Memorandum of Understanding at Anuga.

Leaders of the poultry industries of the USA and Brazil signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) October 11 at the Anuga trade fair in Cologne, Germany, pledging to work cooperatively on common issues while at the same time remaining staunch competitors.

Joined by members of both organizations, Jim Sumner, president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council (USAPEEC), and Francisco Turra, president of the Brazilian Chicken Producers and Exporters Association (ABEF), signed the pact at the USA Pavilion.

Although the two industry organizations, whose members account for nearly 80% of global poultry exports, have talked about such an agreement for some time, Sumner and Turra set the wheels in motion last August during a meeting between the two at the Ave Expo in Foz do Igaçu, Brazil.

“Our industry strongly supports the concepts stated in the MOU,” Sumner said.

“We will continue to agree to disagree because, after all, we remain competitors above everything else. But under the terms of the MOU, we agree to work cooperatively on issues of mutual concern.”

Turra agreed. “This document means simply that the industries of the US and Brazil believe that by working together we can overcome many challenges that we face globally, such as the environment, animal welfare, and global trade barriers. Even though we are fierce competitors, this does not prevent us from collaborating on those issues that affect our ability to trade.”

Under terms laid out in the MOU, both organizations agree to promote sound public policies on several key points, including ecologically sustainable guidelines for poultry production, science-based animal health and food safety regulations, the expansion of free trade, and promoting relations based on cooperation instead of confrontation. The MOU also sets a course for periodic meetings between industry leaders from the USA and Brazil for discussions on issues of common interest.

Sumner, who also serves as president of the International Poultry Council (IPC), said that the MOU is in line with the IPC’s guiding principles of cooperation for the common good of the world’s poultry industries.