São Paulo – Exports by Brazilian cooperatives totalled US$ 2.16 billion from January to May this year, 30% more than in the same period last year. The figures were disclosed by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade’s Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex). According to the organisation, this is the best result for the first five months of the year since 2005. The United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Saudi Arabia are among the main buyers from national cooperatives.
Marco Olívio Morato, the market analyst at the Organisation of Brazilian Cooperatives (OCB) stated that, on the whole, the Arab nations are a “trustworthy market, as they suffer less with oscillations due to financial crises worldwide”. “They have a more robust economy and are a safe haven for cooperatives,” he said.
The United Arab Emirates, the main Arab buyer and fourth in the list as a whole, imported the equivalent to US$ 147.2 million from Brazilian cooperatives from January to May this year, 41.14% more than in the same period in 2010. The main products exported to the country in the Gulf were refined sugar, sugar in bulk and chicken.
"India is returning to sugar production, but the great domestic consumption stunts exports. That makes it possible for Brazil to win the market in neighbouring nations,” said Morato, regarding Brazilian sugar sales to the Emirates. Refined sugar, for example, presented 13.78% expansion from January to May 2011 as against the same period in 2010. Last year, there were no exports of Brazilian sugar in bulk in the period mentioned. This year, in turn, sales totalled US$ 26.66 million.
Algeria, the seventh country in the list, presented the most expressive growth among the Arabs, having imported 253% more in the first five months of the year as against the same period in 2010. Imports totalled US$ 107.71 million, having been boosted by what in grain, a product not exported to the country in North Africa in the period from January to May last year. This year, sales of the commodity to Algeria totalled US$ 85.12 million.
"This wheat goes into animal feed,” said Morato. "It is different wheat from what stays in Brazil, which is for bread. It is a market niche that was opened by Brazil and we hope it will be maintained,” he explained.
Saudi Arabia alone presented a reduction in purchases from Brazilian cooperatives, of 12.55%, having bought US$ 67.18 million from January to May this year. The largest reduction was in the acquisition of chicken, which dropped 96.3%, as a result of migration of sales of the cooperative products to markets like Germany, the main importer in the list.
From January to May this year, Brazilian exports were shipped to 113 countries. Germany, China and the United States were the three main buyers from the sector. The products most sold, in turn, were coffee in grain (with US$ 324.3 million, 15% of the total exported), soy in grain (US$ 283.8 million and 13.1%), sugar in bulk (US$ 255.6 million and 11.8%), refined sugar (US$ 239.6 million and 11.1%), wheat (US$ 219.5 million and 10.2%), soy chaff (US$ 200.5 million and 9.3%), chicken giblets (US$ 193.3 million and 8.9%), ethanol (US$ 121.2 million and 5.6%) and frozen pork (US$ 65.5 million and 3%).
*Translated by Mark Ament
