After suffering from the crisis and Big Boi laying off 800 employees at the beginning of the month, Refrigerators in Paraná are demanding urgent measures 

The union that represents beef and pork companies communicated this Tuesday, 24, that the closure of a factory known as Big Boi is being the latest blow to the sector. Furthermore, they claim to have been suffering from it for a few years.

At first, the slaughter volume in Paraná fell, which was previously more than 835.000 head of cattle in 2019, dropped to 695.000 head of cattle in 2021. However, there was a 17% drop according to the Sindicarnes of the state of Paraná. Refrigerator Big Boi, at the beginning of January, on the 10th, announced more than 800 employee layoffs and also the closure of activities in Paiçandu in Paraná. 

It is worth remembering that the slaughterhouse slaughtered more than 500 cattle per day. After this announcement that one of the largest beef processing units in the state of Paraná would close, the Union of the Meat and Derivatives Industry of Paraná (Sindicarnes-PR) had to demand urgent measures to be able to support the sector. In the communiqué given this Tuesday, the Union mainly blamed the increase in costs and the decrease in cattle supply.

The weak internal demand and the prospect of an increase in the tax burden may also have influenced this closure. In such a way, the big boi fridge it is the third largest in the state of Paraná and like it, large companies such as JBS also have a unit in Paraná, even if it has been idle for a few years. The union also remembers that five years ago, cattle slaughtering factories exceeded more than one million heads per year.

The employer said things got more complicated after the state became FMD-free without vaccination. So, it caused cattle prices to rise in Paraná and reduced the supply of animals and this caused some companies to bring cattle from other farms, from Acre and Rondônia (at prohibitive transport costs), because they have the same health status to that of Paraná. 

Sindicarnes-PR said that “Only in 2020, the year in which sanitary restrictions began, the exodus of cattle to other states (such as São Paulo) surpassed 150.000 heads”. Thus, Paraná's participation in Brazilian beef exports fell to 0,8% last year 2022, where in the previous year it was 1,8%. It is worth mentioning that while beef companies are experiencing difficulties in the state of Paraná, it remains an important producer of chicken and pork. This state is also home to giants, for example: BRF, which has large facilities in Paraná.