São Paulo – Brazilian agribusiness exports to the Middle East reached USD 892.44 million in July, up 21.7% from a year ago, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) reported this Wednesday (14). Exports to Saudi Arabia grew by 48.1% year-on-year, to USD 196.5 million.
Sales to Egypt grossed USD 194.5 million, up 70% from a year ago. Exports to the United Arab Emirates grew by 13.3% year-on-year, to USD 137.8 million.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE ranked, respectively, 10th, 12th and 17th on the list of leading buyers of Brazilian agribusiness in July.
Total Brazil’s agribusiness industry exported USD 9.2 billion worth of products in July, down 7.5% from July 2018.
MAPA reported the decrease in revenue from foreign sales resulted mainly from the reduced prices of agricultural commodities exported by Brazil, specially soybeans.
Corn (pictured), however, hit a record high performance in July, both in revenue and shipped volume. It saw 6.32 million tonnes exported, grossing USD 1.13 billion. MAPA mentioned Japan and South Korea as leading buyers. A significant performance was also seen in green coffee and cotton sales.
Year-to-date figures
Year-to-date through July, agribusiness exports grossed USD 56.61 billion, down 4% from the year-ago period, MAPA reported. The average price of products exported by the country declined 7.3% year-to-date from a year ago, but shipped volume was up 5.6% year-on-year.
Exports to the Middle East grew by 19.6%, to USD 4.8 billion year-to-date through July. Saudi Arabia imported over USD 1 billion, up 8.4%; the UAE purchased USD 837 million, up 21.3%; and Egypt acquired USD 775 million worth of goods, up 16.8% year-on-year.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
