Government wants to resume fish exports to Europe – 02/28/2023 – Market

One of the three PSD nominees for the first echelon of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, André de Paula, 61, says that resuming exports to Europe is a priority for the portfolio.

“It involves diplomacy and the president’s political decision, who has already shown himself sensitive to this issue many times. We believe that the world looks at Brazil, which respects the environment, with greater sympathy, greater tolerance,” said the minister in an interview with Sheet.

Sales were barred in 2018 by the European Union, after problems with Brazilian vessels.

The minister wants the countries of the bloc to analyze the advances that have been made so that they can make a new decision on the resumption of supply.

“There is a feeling that, with this good will and with the advances that have taken place, we are now in a position to return to supplying the European market,” said the minister, without estimating when sales might resume.

Even with the European embargo, the export of Brazilian fish has grown in recent years, from US$ 253.9 million in 2017 to R$ 413.9 million in 2022, according to data from Embrapa (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária) .

Sales to the United States account for about half of that amount.

The minister says that another agenda of the portfolio is to seek a reduction in taxes for feed used by the fishing and aquaculture sector, replicating benefits granted to markets such as pork and poultry.

“To give you an idea of ​​the importance of this, around 70% of the production cost comes from feed. So it is a relevant thing. Because one of our challenges is also to expand the consumption of fish in Brazil, we consume very little. So it is a factor that can certainly contribute to expanding consumption and reducing prices.”

The minister says that the intention is to discuss the matter independently of the tax reform. “This is so obviously important and logical that I’m optimistic it could work.”

The Ministry of Fisheries had been extinguished in 2015, still under the Dilma Rousseff (PT) government, when it became housed in Agriculture. Fisheries returned to the first echelon in the Lula administration.

The Fisheries portfolio also helped to project allies of the last governments. Marcelo Crivella (Republicanos-RJ) was Dilma’s minister before becoming mayor of Rio, while Jorge Seif (PL-SC) headed the secretariat in the Bolsonaro administration and won the Senate race in 2022.

With no experience in the fishing sector, André de Paula was a deputy for 24 years and lost the Senate election for Pernambuco last year. The former congressman was affiliated with the PDS, successor to Arena, the party aligned with the military dictatorship (1964-1985), in addition to the PFL and DEM until he joined the PSD, a party led by Gilberto Kassab.

He says that one of his challenges is to prove that Pesca deserves to maintain ministry status. “If over the next four years we promote significant advances, whatever the future government, messing with the status of the ministry will be promoting a setback and politicians do not like to promote a setback.”

The minister also states that he plans to expand the ministry’s budget, currently one of the smallest on the Esplanada – around R$300 million in 2023–, with the contribution of parliamentary amendments.

“Finding projects that serve, for example, small-scale fishing, and that demonstrate the importance of the parliamentarian, will certainly make it possible for us to raise a greater volume of resources on the part of Congress”, he said.

De Paula says that one of the actions that can be funded by amendments is the “Legal Fisherman”, which is under study in the portfolio. The idea is to regularize the activity of workers in the sector.

“You can imagine how difficult it is for a fisherman to gain access to the government’s portal. This has a huge impact, as Social Security and various social benefits derive from its legality.”

The new minister claims that he will make an effort to secure votes for the government in Congress and that the PSD maintains a “republican” relationship with the Lula administration. “The relationship is not measured by the formal space we occupy, despite being in three very important ministries.”

The head of Fisheries also says that guaranteeing the support of parliamentarians does not depend only on the release of funds, but recognizes that the government prioritizes allies. “Deputies who engage with the government, the government engages with them.”

“I would be very ashamed to come to the municipality and say that I could take BRL 20 million to the public hospital, and that because of an itch I stopped receiving a resource that was assured by the leader of my party. I think that every deputy works to bring resources to your municipality, your state,” he said.