Global beef markets are highly influenced by sanitary issues, mainly related to animal health and food safety, which have been determining levels and trends in global beef trade. Food safety issues affecting human health such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) associated with Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (vCJD) in humans, and other diseases affecting production such as foot and mouth disease (FMD) has encouraged putting these issues to beef trade attention. A way to address these concerns and comply with international standards is the use of traceability systems in order to quickly identify hazard sources and assure beef quality and safety. The goal of this research was to assess the effect of exporting countries sanitary status of BSE and FMD, and traceability systems in beef export prices and to examine Paraguayan beef exports relative to other exporting countries. Data of the top beef exporters was collected from the United Nations Commodity Trade Database (UN Comtrade), including export operations volume and receipt with each of their trading partners, from 2000 to 2012. Four commodities were studied: Frozen and Fresh/Chilled bone-in and boneless beef cuts. The data was analyzed using ordinary least squares regression methods (a hedonic price equation). Five models were run, one for each commodity and lastly one with all four together. Results revealed that both FMD and BSE affect negatively to beef exports prices, as well as shipments from India, that has no official FMD status and any traceability system in place. Apart from sanitary status, epidemiological events also have a negative impact on beef prices. On the other hand, the implementation of traceability systems improves prices. In this scenario, Paraguay lags behind in the adoption of emerging markets standards for traceability systems, therefore does not access most competitive markets, which pay higher prices. As such, Paraguay faces challenges to maintain and expand beef exports, especially in regards to keeping the country’s FMD free status.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / The beef industry is a very important in the food sector of agriculture and over the past two decades the United States beef industry has faced many challenges. Over time the distribution of beef exports have changed due to food safety issues and government policies, not just in the U.S., but on a global scale forcing U.S. beef producers to diversify their export outputs to other countries that were not previously strong leaders in the export business. The U.S. must be strategic in their production decisions in order to continue to compete on a global level to avoid significant loss during adverse conditions. One of the major challenges that the U.S. industry has faced is the discovery of BSE in late 2003 in the state of Washington, which led to the closing of many borders to countries who had a significant impact on the beef industry in the U.S. Since U.S. beef is highly regarded by consumers for its quality worldwide, it is important to understand what changes have taken place in the past to have a full understanding of what changes need to be made in the future. The objective of this thesis is to look at how the distribution of the value, volume and price of U.S. beef exports have changed over the past two decades. By looking at how this has changed we will be able to see what countries are emerging as important customers and how others have declined. This is extremely important since some of the major importing countries have changed or put restrictions on the U.S. beef industry over the past two decades and the industry needs to understand these changes so that they can remain strong in the export sector. By analyzing the global trends of U.S. beef exports by value, volume and price across principal regions of the world, research will show us how to change for future changes. By assessing the effect of the discovery of BSE in the U.S on changes in the distribution of beef exports across the global regions, research will show who emerged when other countries declined. By using this research, the foregoing results will be helpful to inform the industry on what export market strategy can be developed for the U.S. beef industry. The results suggest that BSE had some negative effect on the U.S. beef industry in terms of the value and volume but did not have an impact on the price per pound of beef. Some regions had a larger impact than others when BSE was discovered, such as East Asia, but during this other regions, such as North America, came through and became the leaders in exports for U.S. beef. While there was some growth from the Rest of the World, there was not enough of an impact to compete with the foregoing countries.

Submitted by Jonas Christopher Timmermann (jonas.c.timmermann@gmail.com) on 2016-10-04T18:27:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Master Thesis - JONAS TIMMERMANN.pdf: 1404671 bytes, checksum: 7ad23245ed5fcd573456e475852faca6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Luiza Holme (ana.holme@fgv.br) on 2016-10-04T18:30:23Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Master Thesis - JONAS TIMMERMANN.pdf: 1404671 bytes, checksum: 7ad23245ed5fcd573456e475852faca6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-04T18:38:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Master Thesis - JONAS TIMMERMANN.pdf: 1404671 bytes, checksum: 7ad23245ed5fcd573456e475852faca6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-14 / Brazilian beef companies have been very successful in recent years due to a range of external factors. These factors include a favourable climate in Brazil and an abundant supply of natural resources (such as supply of water and cheap farmable land). Economically wise, Brazilian beef companies benefitted from cheap labour, reduced trade barriers and a favourable exchange rate. To investigate the quality perception of Brazilian beef, a quantitative study was conducted with German, French and Italian consumers. The results reveal that Brazilian beef lacks brand equity: Respondents that have never bought (or experienced) Brazilian beef have subconsciously a negative impression of the quality of Brazilian beef. Moreover, the image of Brazil as a country has an effect on how consumers perceive Brazilian beef. This paper suggests that Brazilian beef companies should intensify their marketing efforts and invest in the brand building of Brazilian beef. Since the beef industry is important to Brazil’s GDP, the government (supported by ABIEC) is advised to support these marketing programs as well. Brand building serves as a form of protection against times when external factors may worsen. / Empresas brasileiras de carne bovina foram muito bem sucedidas nos últimos anos devido a uma série de fatores externos. Esses fatores incluem um clima favorável no Brasil e uma oferta abundante de recursos naturais (como o fornecimento de água e terras cultiváveis baratas). Em termos econômicos, as empresas brasileiras de carne bovina foram beneficiadas pela mão de obra barata, pelas barreiras comerciais reduzidas e por uma taxa de câmbio favorável. Para investigar a percepção de qualidade da carne bovina brasileira, um estudo quantitativo foi realizado com consumidores alemães, franceses e italianos. Os resultados revelam que a carne brasileira carece de brand equity: os respondentes que nunca compraram (ou experimentaram) carne brasileira têm inconscientemente uma impressão negativa com relação à qualidade da carne brasileira. Além disso, a imagem do Brasil como país tem um efeito sobre como os consumidores percebem a carne brasileira. Este trabalho sugere que as empresas brasileiras de carne bovina devem intensificar os seus esforços de marketing e investir na construção da imagem da marca da carne brasileira. Dado que a indústria da carne é importante para o PIB do Brasil, o governo também (apoiada pela ABIEC) é aconselhado a apoiar estes programas de marketing. Construção de marca serve como uma forma de proteção contra tempos em que fatores externos podem piorar.