EN 
PT_BR 
Known worldwide for its geography that is home to a large part of the famous Andes Mountains, that immense chain of mountains formed millions of years ago, as well as the Atacama Desert, one of the driest and most arid regions in the world, where the “Salar de Atacama”, a vast salt flat, is located, and for the production of high-quality wines, Chile is becoming a new destination for pork produced in Paraná. The first shipments should be shipped soon, as soon as the Brazilian government defines the list of meatpacking plants in the state of Paraná that are authorized to export the product to that country. Last year, pork consumption in Chile reached almost half a million tons.
Photo: Shutterstock
The inclusion of the Andean country in the list of nations that import pork produced in Paraná is further clear evidence that the efforts and investments of Paraná's pig farmers and of professional associations, such as APS, the Paraná Pig Farmers Association; Faep, the Agriculture Federation of the State of Paraná; and Ocepar, the Organization of Cooperatives of Paraná, have been worthwhile. They worked together with the State Government, through Seab, the State Secretariat for Agriculture and Supply, and the Agricultural Defense Agency, Adapar, to improve the health status of Paraná, with the end of vaccination against foot-and-mouth disease in Paraná's herds.
The international recognition by the OIE, the World Organization for Animal Health, of this health status in Paraná came in 2021, and this gave the state a credential to access new markets for its pork, as has been happening year after year since then, when Paraná began to export to these markets with higher health requirements. The investments in Animal Health and Biosecurity on Farms, made by producers in Paraná, by integrating companies and by cooperatives, in addition to the excellence in the state's agricultural defense services, were fundamental for this to happen.
Paraná is the second largest pork producer in Brazil – it surpassed Rio Grande do Sul, and in 2024 it slaughtered 12.4 million pigs, equivalent to 21.5% of the entire national slaughter. The state of Paraná produced more than one million and 100 thousand tons of pork, just over 20% of the Brazilian national production. There was an increase of almost 300 thousand heads compared to 2023, and with that Paraná led the national growth in production, last year. In exact numbers, Paraná produced 281.4 thousand more heads of pigs compared to 2023, and was the third largest exporter of pork in Brazil, with 185.5 thousand tons, behind only Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.
Photo: Claudio Neves
This year, in the first quarter of 2025, revenue from pork exports from Paraná almost doubled compared to the period from January to March 2024. While in the first quarter of last year the volume of fresh pork exported by the State reached US$1.5T 64 million, this year it reached US$1.5T 121 million. This means that Paraná's share in Brazil's international agenda went from 1.2% to 2.3%.
Now, with the opening of the Chilean market, there has been an increase of almost 20% in pork exports from Paraná. In 2021, the state exported to 68 countries, and in 2024, this number increased to 82. Until April 2025 alone, 45 countries have already imported pork from Paraná.
Sales to Chile can happen immediately, as soon as the Brazilian government identifies which meatpacking plants in Paraná can export to this new market. It is known that meatpacking plants are authorized by a list previously defined by Brazil itself, which defines those that are eligible to export. But this goes against a long-standing aspiration of meatpacking plants in Paraná, which have been trying to reach this market for years.
