Revenue of US$132.85 million was down 1.17 per cent, while the average price increased by 3.31 per cent compared to August last year.

Over the year, exports have reached 343,293 tonnes, a fall of 6.66 per cent compared to the same period last year, with revenue of $889.25 million, down 4.40 per cent.

The drop in sales in August compared to the same period in 2012, is mainly due to operational problems and not to difficult markets, the head of the internal market of the Brazilian Association of Producers and Exporters of Meat swine (ABIPECS) Jurandi Soares Machado said.

He said that there were delays in ships that carried the pork to Hong Kong.

However, the expectation for the remainder of the year is optimistic, he said.

He added that the industry already has information that shipments in September are increasing.

Russia remained the main destination for Brazilian pork, with a 27.65 per cent share of exports in the year, followed by Hong Kong, with 23.68 per cent and Ukraine with 13.64 per cent.

Russia is the main sales are for Brazilian pork with 31.36 per cent in sales, Hong Kong has 22.11 per cent and Ukraine 14.85 per cent .

In August, Ukraine led the way with 24.31 per cent of exports, while Russia was second with 23.85 per cent. Russia had 29.15 per cent of the sales and Ukraine 26.58 per cent .

Exports to Russia for the year were 94,936 tonnes in the year worth $278.87 million, up 16.02 per cent in volume and 18.20 per cent in value over the same period in 2012 .

In August, shipments to Russia fell by 12.36 per cent in volume to 12,481 tonnes although there was a 1.63 per cent increase in revenue, compared to August last year.

The Ukrainian market, which was closed for much of the first half of this year, saw a fall in sales of 43.74 per cent in volume from January to August to 46,823 tonnes, compared to the same period of 2012.

In August, sales were up by 8.96 per cent to 12,724 tonnes and 25.68 per cent in value to $35.31 million .

Sales to Hong Kong reached 81,276 tonnes in the year, down 1.81 per cent compared to the same period of 2012. In August, the fall was greater - by 14.14 per cent to 8,891 tonnes and 16.46 per cent in revenue to $20.53 million.