São Paulo – This week, the Ministry of Agriculture disclosed that Brazilian agribusiness exports generated US$ 6.8 billion in August, an increase of 15.7% over the same month last year, with a surplus of US$ 5.7 billion. In the accumulated result for the last 12 months, foreign sales reached US$ 69 million, a record for the period of the year.
The products that weighed heaviest in the growth of shipments last month were the soy complex, sugar and alcohol, meats and coffee. There was a growth of 44% in the value of soy complex exports, which, according to the ministry, shows the appreciation of product prices on the foreign market. The sector answered to revenues of US$ 1.8 billion.
Foreign sales of meats, in turn, totalled US$ 1.4 billion, growth of 38.4% over August 2007. The increase in prices of beef, chicken and pork also strongly influenced this performance.
In the case of sugar and alcohol, the shipments generated US$ 824 million, 15.5% more than in August last year. Coffee exports totalled US$ 381 million, an increase of 19.4% in the same comparison.
Year
In the accumulated result for January to August, agribusiness sales reached US$ 48.5 billion, an increase of 28% over the same period last year. The trade surplus of the sector was US$ 40.6 billion.
The sectors that contributed most to the performance were the soy complex, with growth of 71.4%, meats (36.9%), forestry products (11.2%), the sugar and alcohol complex (5,4%) and coffee (16%).
The main markets for the sector were China, in the first place, followed by the Netherlands and the United States. There was expressive growth, according to the ministry, in sales to Venezuela (136%) and Thailand (73%), when compared to the result from January to August 2007.
*Translated by Mark Ament
