São Paulo – The Middle East was the market that grew most as an export destination for Brazilian agribusiness products in May. The shipments there generated US$ 457 million, growth of 28.8% over the same month last year, according to figures disclosed on Wednesday (10) by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply.
The region includes three of the 20 countries to which sales rose in May: Saudi Arabia, which imported the equivalent to US$ 131.8 million, growth of 60.5% over the same month in 2008, the United Arab Emirates, with US$ 92.3 million, 78.6% more, and Iran, with US$ 84 million, growth of 122%.
Apart from the Middle East, shipments only grew to Africa (2%) and Asia (2%), as in total Brazilian agribusiness sales dropped 20.5% in May and were little over US$ 6 billion. There was a reduction in sales to traditional destinations like the United States, Europe and Latin America.
Among the main products shipped by Brazil, special attention in May was to sugar. Shipments in the sugar and alcohol sector generated US$ 769 million, growth of almost 30% over the same month last year. The growth was not just in revenues, but also in export volume.
According to information supplied by the Ministry of Agriculture, the sector was favoured by the drop in the crop in India, which is also a great producer of sugar, resulting in lower in the international market and in greater product prices. Sales of tobacco and its products also rose (44.1%), as did those of fruit (10%).
There was, however, a reduction in soy shipments (-15.6%), meats (-31.5%), forestry products (-53.8%), coffee (-8.1%) and leather and its products (-45.6%). According to the Ministry, the coffee result is being influenced by the biennial aspect of the culture, which has one year of good crops and a second of more modest crops, being this the weaker crop year. The other products were greatly affected by the lower product prices due to cooling of the international demand.
This scenery has been repeated in the year to date. From January to May, the markets that grew most were Asia (13.2%), the Middle East (11.4%) and Africa (10.7%), whereas total exports dropped 11.5% when compared to the same period last year, to US$ 24.1 billion.
With regard to products, there was growth in sales of the soy complex (1%), sugar and alcohol (27.9%), tobacco and its products (17%), live animals (24.4%), honey (122.3%) and vegetables (64.8%). Exports of juices dropped 13.2% in the period.
Orange juice
In the area of juice, the product most exported by Brazil is orange juice, as the country dominates 80% of global trade of the product. In the first five months of the year, revenues with shipments dropped, although there was a slight increase in the volume exported.
According to the president of the recently established National Association of Exporters of Citric Juices, Christian Lohbauer, the performance is the result of a set of factors, like the reduction of global consumption of orange juice due to the competition with other drinks, the historic levels of stocks in the main importers and the good production in Florida, which was not affected by the recent climate phenomena that affect the North American crops from time to time.
Lohbauer pointed out that the lower prices of the commodity have been taking place over the years. The price of orange juice, which is a commodity, have dropped 50% on the international market over the last two years. The main markets are Europe, the United States and Japan and, within this scenery, according to him, there is need for the search for greater alternative destinations in the middle term. It is still necessary, however, to take into consideration the price that is still considered high for developing countries.
In the area of meats, Lohbauer, who was recently the executive director at the Brazilian Poultry Exporters Association (Abef), said that exports of chicken are being less affected by the financial crisis and the sector hopes for growth of 5% in shipments this year.
With regard to beef, there has been a reduction due to internal matters and to lack of access to important fresh meat markets, like the United States and Japan.
*Translated by Mark Ament
