SAO PAULO: Saudi Arabia has revoked the export permits of 33 chicken plants in Brazil due to "technical" reasons, meat trade association ABPA said on Tuesday, sending shares of top exporter BRF SA nearly 5 percent lower.

Saudi Arabia, Brazil's top buyer of fresh and processed chicken products, will maintain export permits for another 25 Brazilian chicken plants, ABPA said in the same statement.

The ban was officially communicated to the Brazilian government by the Saudis, according to a report in Folha de S.Paulo on Tuesday, which added it affected the units of listed Brazilian food processors JBS SA and BRF.

An ABPA spokesperson could not immediately confirm how many of the suspended plants were currently selling chicken products to the Saudis, nor did ABPA name any firms. The meat group blamed "technical" reasons for the Saudi move.

"Corrective action is being taken to restore the authorizations," ABPA said.

Earlier Folha de S. Paulo said the Saudi move could be linked to the Brazilian government's intention to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture did not have an immediate comment.

BRF declined immediate comment. JBS, whose shares were down 0.2 percent after earlier trading as much as 3 percent higher, referred comments to ABPA.

In 2018, Saudi Arabia was Brazil's top buyer of fresh and processed chicken products, an ABPA spokesman said.

ABPA data shows the Saudis imported 433,500 tonnes of chicken products from Brazil, or about 11.8 percent of all such sales from the company.

China was a close second, importing around 400,900 tonnes of fresh chicken and byproducts, corresponding to 10.9 percent of total sales, according to the data.

On Monday, China's Ministry of Commerce accepted an offer made by Brazilian chicken exporters to end a dumping investigation. 

(Reporting by Ana Mano Editing by Bernadette Baum and Marguerita Choy) ((ana.mano@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +55-11-5644-7704; Mob: +55-119-4470-4529; Reuters Messaging: ana.mano.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))