São Paulo – This week, the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply disclosed a preliminary schedule of the international promotion actions that it intends to carry out this year. It provides for at least three actions in the Arab world.
The first one will be participation in Gulfood, the leading trade fair for the food industry in the Middle East, to be held in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, from the 21st to the 24th this month. In partnership with the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, the ministry is going to take 12 Brazilian companies to exhibit at the event.
This will be the third time running that the ministry and the Arab Brazilian Chamber promote the presence of companies from Brazil at the fair. The Emirates were the 17th leading destination for Brazilian agribusiness in 2009.
A mission to North Africa is scheduled for July, including trips to Morocco, Egypt and Algeria. “It will be a trade mission geared towards food exporters,” said the director of the ministry’s Agribusiness International Promotion Department, Eduardo Sampaio Marques.
The mission is the main new feature compared with last year’s schedule. Egypt, Algeria and Morocco are among the five main Arab markets for Brazil – the other two are Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – and are also strong importers of agribusiness products.
According to information supplied by the ministry, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco ranked 21st, 23rd and 32nd, respectively, among the leading importers of Brazilian agribusiness last year. Sales increased over the course of 2009 and, as of December, Egypt ranked 19th and Algeria, 20th.
In November, the ministry will once again take companies from Brazil to exhibit at the Saudi Agro-Food, an agricultural trade fair in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Last year, the ministry took 16 companies to the fair, in partnership with the Arab Brazilian Chamber. Saudi Arabia ranked 15th among the leading importers of Brazilian agribusiness in 2009.
Last year, revenues from agricultural exports to all of the Arab countries totalled US$ 6.86 billion, representing growth of 14% over 2008. Using the same basis of comparison, overall foreign sales of Brazilian agribusiness products dropped by 9.8%, according to information from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
