Lula’s steak promise haunts Brazil election campaign

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's 2022 promise to put picanha back on voters' plates has become a campaign problem as he seeks a fourth term in October's elections.

Lula told supporters during his 2022 campaign that “the people will begin eating picanha again”, referring to a prized cut of beef often served at Brazilian barbecues. Nearly four years later, figures from Brazil's statistics agency show the cut costs almost 10 percent more.

Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro and Lula's main rival in the October vote, has used the issue at campaign events. At one recent event, he served grilled meat and said: “Given that Lula did not bring picanha, I brought some here today.”

Picanha remains relatively expensive in Brazil, the world's biggest beef exporter, with prices ranging from 80 to 110 reais, or about $15 to $21, per kilo. Mirne Franco, who owns a butcher shop on the outskirts of Brasilia, said: “When you eat picanha, you're eating like the rich.”

Lula has defended his economic record, saying food inflation has slowed and that inflation is within the Central Bank's target range. Food prices have risen on average four percent annually since 2022, compared with more than 11 percent on average during the last three years of Jair Bolsonaro's presidency, which partly overlapped with the Covid pandemic.

But the higher cost of beef is feeding voter frustration. Lucas da Silva, a 23-year-old grill master in Brasilia, said he voted for Lula but would not do so again because he saw “no change”.