Agência Brasil
Curitiba – Chinese investors say they are interested in building silos in the Brazilian state of Paraná. The construction would be in partnership with local cooperatives with the objective of increasing soybean exports to China, says Charles Tang, the president of the Brazil-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Tang adds that China is willing to furnish fertilizer in exchange for soy.
Tang recently accompanied soy traders from Hennan province in China. Hennan is presently importing 500,000 tons of soy from Paraná annually, but intends to increase its purchases to two million tons annually.
According to Tang, in 2004 China will import 15 million tons of soy, of which 8 million tons will come from Brazil. "China could import as much as 30 million tons annually," explains Tang, "because domestic demand is increasing rapidly. In 2001, China imported only 3.1 million tons of soy."
China has become the second biggest importer of goods from Paraná, behind only the US. In 2003, the Chinese bought 10% of all Paraná exports. Eighty percent of Paraná exports to China are soy.
Brazil-China trade only began in earnest in 2000, when it was worth US$2.3 billion, and has risen sharply since then. It reached US$3.2 billion in 2001, with a Brazilian surplus of US$600 million. This year, for the first half, Brazil is running a US$1 billion trade surplus with China.
