Brazil a major source of meat imports

THE next time you are enjoying a sumptuous meat dish in an expensive restaurant or at home, there is a high chance that the raw material for cooking it came from Brazil, which is situated halfway around the world from Singapore.

Unknown to most people here, 45 per cent of Singapore’s meat imports come from the Latin American country. Interestingly, even the word “sumptuous” comes from the Latin word sumptus, which means “expensive”. Sumptus is related to sumere, which means “to consume”.

Brazil is the single largest supplier of meat to the Republic, according to data from the inaugural Singapore Food Statistics 2021, which has been published by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA). Formed in April 2019, SFA is the lead agency for food related matters in Singapore and is committed to ensuring and securing a supply of safe food for the nation.

Meat refers to chicken, pork, beef and mutton in SFA statistics. A closer look at the food import numbers shows that Brazil was the source of 48 per cent of chicken out of a total of 214,400 tonnes imported by Singapore last year. Significantly, this is ahead of Malaysia’s share of 34 per cent in total chicken imports by the Republic last year.

Similarly, Brazil was the source of 39 per cent of pork imported by Singapore last year. The Latin American country’s share was up from 38 per cent in 2020 and 31 per cent in 2019. When it comes to beef, Brazil’s share is even higher at 58 per cent of the total imported by Singapore last year. Brazil does not figure under mutton imports by the Republic in the SFA statistics.