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The battle for Brazilian households’ budgets is no longer limited to different types of protein. In a context of squeezed income, sports betting, high interest rates and debt are shaping consumer purchasing decisions. At the same time, trends that could be favorable to protein consumption, such as the rise of weight-loss injections, whose users are often advised to increase protein intake to preserve muscle mass during weight loss, reveal another challenge: turning this growing interest into actual beef consumption, rather than just protein supplements.
These were some of the reflections presented during the Trends and Market Outlook panel, held at Tecnocarne in São Paulo, which brought together Gabriel Morelli Ribeiro, Market Manager at the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA); Luc Vian, Market Intelligence Manager at the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporting Industries (ABIEC); and Andrea Mesquita, founder and CEO of Território da Carne.
From the frying pan to whey: meat needs to learn how to communicate better
For Luc Vian, factors that go beyond the food universe have begun to influence protein consumption in Brazil.
The main costs in retail are protein, and that’s true at home as well. We are going through a serious problem of income being redirected to bets, which goes beyond the concept of protein.
He said.
Gabriel Morelli Ribeiro also highlighted that “in addition to this redirection of income to online betting, Brazil’s current situation of debt and high interest rates has been draining Brazilian consumers’ purchasing power,” noting expectations that public policies could help reverse this scenario and help families maintain their dietary standards.
On the other hand, the growing use of weight-loss injections as a treatment for obesity is encouraging interest in high-quality proteins. However, it also highlights another challenge for the meat chain: adapting to a consumer who increasingly values convenience and practicality. “People would rather have a whey protein than fry a steak and dirty the stove,” Vian noted. For the executive, although protein consumption is gaining relevance among certain groups, especially users of weight-loss medication, consumption patterns tend to favor ready-made or quickly prepared options.
For Andrea Mesquita, founder and CEO of Território da Carne, the difficulty lies not only in the product itself, but in the way it is presented to consumers. “The protein chain, from the source onward, is not very ‘sexy,’” she said. “A whey protein is sold for R$ 200 per kilo, and we struggle to sell a kilo of meat for R$ 40. Where are we going wrong?” she asked.
In her view, the buying experience is still not very user-friendly. Consumers are faced with different cuts and are expected to understand on their own the characteristics, culinary uses and preparation methods.
Andrea also drew attention to regulatory constraints that make it harder to communicate nutritional benefits.
On the label, there is MAPA regulation, which is great, but I can’t say ‘high protein content.’ Maybe that’s what would help me sell meat instead of an ultra-processed product.
She believes there is room for the chain to work in a more coordinated way to promote beef, as already happens in other countries. In the United States, for example, part of the funds generated in each transaction involving traded arrobas is directed to collective initiatives to promote the meat chain.
We need to overcome this perceived value. In this way, everyone will benefit more.
The domestic market is an underused opportunity
Although Brazil has developed the capacity to serve international markets with specific requirements for cuts, sanitary standards and distinct cultural preferences, about 65% of the beef produced in the country is still destined for the domestic market. The panelists noted, however, that domestic and foreign markets do not necessarily operate in direct competition. Each destination absorbs different parts of the animal and contributes to the economic balance of the chain, allowing for better use of the carcass and greater cost dilution throughout production.
In the case of chicken meat, Gabriel Morelli Ribeiro cited the example of chicken feet, which are little consumed in Brazil but valued by the Chinese market. Before exports, this product was used to make meal for animal feed. “With the possibility of exporting and bringing in extra revenue, the margins required for other cuts decrease and they end up becoming even more competitive,” he explained. Offal destined for Africa and Southeast Asian countries serves a similar role.
For Andrea Mesquita, the same strategy used to understand importing markets is still little applied domestically. “I see the very good work associations do in going to these markets, opening dialogue, understanding the country’s culture and understanding the market. The same does not happen in the domestic market, which is made up of small retailers, with whom we interact every day,” she said.
The executive argued that there is an opportunity to bring industry and retail, especially small businesses, closer together in a way similar to the work done in opening and consolidating foreign markets.
Do we understand this small retail sector as a grouped impact? The idea is to think about how the industry organizes itself, just as it does for the foreign market, so that the domestic market becomes more of a seller, because then it will also become more of a buyer.
She said.
The perception that there is still limited knowledge about the Brazilian market was also shared by the other panelists from the perspective of information about the end consumer. According to Luc Vian, much of the discussion led by industry associations is concentrated on importing markets and the demands of international clients. “The sector is very lacking in information,” he said. “Today we can’t just go to a website where this information is ready and laid out for us.”
Gabriel Morelli Ribeiro noted that the situation is similar in the poultry and pork segments. According to him, although there are isolated initiatives to boost consumption and improve packaging, marketing and positioning efforts still depend largely on each company’s individual strategies.
Opportunities also lie beyond Brazil’s borders
The potential for growth in protein consumption also creates opportunities outside Brazil. According to Luc Vian, although Europe has been adopting policies and rhetoric that are less favorable to meat consumption, other regions continue to expand their demand for animal protein. “Today, the main growth drive is still Southeast Asia,” he said.
China, which already accounts for about 20% of Brazilian production and roughly half of the country’s exports of in natura beef, shows how the Brazilian chain can respond quickly to the demands of specific markets. One example is the so-called “China beef” category, which did not exist in Brazil a few years ago and became established after objective criteria were defined, mainly related to the animals’ age.
The projections presented during the panel indicate that global production is expected to grow by about 10 million carcass-equivalent tons over the next ten years, with approximately 40% of that increase coming from Brazil.
In the panelists’ view, the country is in a favorable position to meet a significant share of this growth. Over recent decades, Brazilian livestock farming has advanced in productivity precisely to compete with other agricultural activities, intensifying production systems, expanding the use of technology and reducing the average slaughter age of animals.
The bigger Brazil gets, the greater the challenges
However, Brazil’s expanding role in the international market is also likely to increase competitive pressures. “The more Brazil grows, the more it is threatened by competing markets,” Ribeiro said.
In the executive’s view, some of these barriers go beyond strictly sanitary criteria.
They are philosophical obstacles much more than technical ones. These are barriers that are not in the Codex [Alimentarius, the global food code that standardizes health and safety rules for food imports/exports] and not in any technical or guidance manual. They are there to make Brazilian meatpackers less competitive in the eyes of nations that see us as a threat.
Ribeiro argues that, in practice, protein produced in Brazil does not compete with local supply in importing countries, but complements it by meeting specific demand for cuts and products that would not be produced in sufficient quantities in those markets.
Concerns about food security reinforce this complementarity thesis. In a scenario of population growth, limits on the expansion of new agricultural areas and rising demand for animal protein, countries capable of increasing productivity will play a strategic role in supplying quality food to the world’s population. For the panelists, Brazil is well positioned to occupy a significant share of that space, turning its competitive advantages into effective market access.
Learn more: Tecnocarne: how decisions from pasture to plate affect the entire meat chain
