São Paulo – Brazilian agribusiness exports to the Arab countries generated US$ 724.14 million in revenues in February, a 65.6% increase compared with the same month of last year, according to data disclosed this Monday (21st) by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply.
According to Gastão Giometti, a technician at the International Agribusiness Promotion Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, the rise in sales to Arab countries is due to higher product prices and greater volumes sold. "Brazil is making an effort to increase its exports to those countries," says Giometti. "South-South trade is very important to Brazil," he claims.
Three Arab countries have ranked among the top importers of Brazilian agribusiness products in February: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Algeria. The three are also among the markets to which sales grew the most during the month, by 48.5%, 109.1% and 196.7%, respectively.
Egypt was the fourth leading target for Brazilian products in the Arab market last month. The Egyptians imported the equivalent of US$ 76.85 million, a 92.6% increase over February 2010, in spite of the political crisis that hit the country during the period.
The top-selling products to the Arabs include chicken meat, sugar, wheat, beef, soy oil, maize, coffee and livestock. Shipments of all of these items have grown, except for raw beef, whose sales dropped by 4.8%, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Regarding the outlook for the next few months, Giometti highlights the positive expectations of the federal government. "We are optimistic about the general increase in exports due to the record-high crop that Brazil should harvest this year and to international prices," he stated.
Overall, Brazil exported the equivalent of US$ 5.333 billion in February, a 21% increase over the same month of 2010. The figure was an all-time high for February, according to the ministry. In the combined result for the first two months of 2011, revenues from agribusiness exports reached US$ 10.485 billion, a 23.6% increase over the same period of last year.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
