São Paulo – Exports by Brazilian agribusiness to the Middle East countries surged 13.3% in November in comparison to the same month of 2015, according to data made public by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA). The Arab nations and the other countries in the region bought USD 686 million last month, or 12% of total exports.
The highlight was the increase of sales to the United Arab Emirates, the ninth largest buyer of Brazilian products: 51.7% in November in comparison to the same month of 2015, reaching USD 176.3 million. Saudi Arabia, the eighth largest importer, bought 2.6% less in the same comparison with USD 179.5 million.
Algeria also appears among the twenty largest destinations for Brazilian agribusiness products last month at the 19th position with USD 74.7 million, a decline of 14.3% over November 2015.
Overall, Brazilian shipments totaled USD 5.73 billion last month, a decline of 13.6% over November 2015. The five main products sold were meats, sugar/alcohol products, forest products, coffee and soy, and they accounted for 73.6% of total exports of the Brazilian agribusiness.
From January to November, total exports reached USD 78.83 billion, a decline of 3.1% over the first eleven months of last year. Exports in the period to Middle East countries took the opposite direction, going up 11.4% to USD 7.19 billion.
With this, the region’s share in the total of Brazilian exports increased from 7.9% in 2015 to 9.1% this year.
Again, the highlight is the United Arab Emirates with an increase, year-to-date, of 5.5% in imports of Brazilian agribusiness products to a total of USD 1.22 billion. The country is the 19th main clients of Brazilian products.
Saudi Arabia appears in the seventh position with USD 1.97 billion, a decline of 3.1%, while Egypt comes in 15th place with USD 1.34 billion, down 20%.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
