São Paulo – The Middle East increased purchases of Brazilian agribusiness products by 2.5% in June this year over the same month of 2012, and by 21.8% in the first half, according to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply. Purchases totalled US$ 528 million last month and US$ 3.9 billion in the year up to June. The region is home to Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman, among others, but also to non-Arab nations, such as Iran and Israel.
Among the Arab countries of the region, the main buyer of Brazilian agricultural products in June was Saudi Arabia, with US$ 176 million, with a decrease of 0.9% over the same month of 2012. The Saudis were the tenth largest destination for Brazilian agribusiness exports in the month. The list of top 20 buyers also includes the Emirates, in the 17th position, with US$ 125 million in purchases and 53% growth, and Egypt, in 20th, with imports of US$ 110 million, a decrease of 11.6% over June last year.
In the first half of 2013, in turn, Saudi Arabia was the eighth main buyer, with US$ 1.3 billion and growth of 13.6% over the first six months of 2012. The Emirates is in 14th place with US$ 900 million and 38% growth, and Egypt comes in 17th place, with US$ 678 million, down 7% as against January to June 2012.
The Middle East as a region, however, was the fourth largest importer of agribusiness products in June, behind Asia, the European Union and the Nafta. The country that bought most was China. In the accumulated result for the year, the main importer regions were the same, and China was also the main buyer of Brazilian products.
Brazilian agribusiness exports as a whole grew by 13.7% in June, to US$ 9.18 billion. The sector accounted for 43.2% of what the country earned with shipments abroad. The highlight was the soy complex, which represented 45.6% of exported agribusiness products, or US$ 4.18 billion in June. There was an increase of 32.6% over the same month last year, and also an increase in volumes shipped, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
In the first half, exports reached a record US$ 49.57 billion, growth of 10.7% over the first six months of last year. The record, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, was mainly due to the performance of maize, soybean and sugar sales. Maize exports rose from US$ 469 million to US$ 2.39 billion, up 409%, while soybeans rose 15.7% to US$ 13.81 billion, and sugar sales grew 27% to US$ 5.46 billion.
*Translated by Mark Ament
