São Paulo – Brazil exported 221,000 tonnes of maize to the Arab countries in January, according to figures supplied by the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex), connected to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. Brazilian revenues with sales of maize – in grain – to the Arabs totalled US$ 42.5 million. In the same period last year, the country did not export the commodity to the region.
The Arab country that made the most significant imports of maize in Brazil in January was Saudi Arabia. The Saudis spent US$ 26.1 million on 166,000 tonnes. Another two countries, Morocco and the Emirates, also imported, but at lower volumes. Morocco imported US$ 15.6 million, for 50,000 tonnes, and the Emirates, US$ 784,000, for 4,000 tonnes.
Most of the maize exported left Paraná. Of the 221,000 tonnes shipped, 97,600 were shipped to the state. The volume corresponded to US$ 14.4 million. In the case of Mato Grosso, exports totalled 96,600 tonnes, but for greater prices. Revenues reached US$ 23 million. The states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Rondônia also sold. Mato Grosso do Sul exported 26,000 tonnes, or US$ 3.9 million and Rondônia, 831 tonnes for US$ 398,000.
Brazil is exporting maize despite the forecast of a lower crop this year. Last year the country picked 58.6 million tonnes of the product. This year, the forecast of the National Food Supply Company (Conab) is that the crop should reach 50.3 million tonnes. There was a reduction in the maize cropland in the country, due to the cost of inputs and low price of grain before the start of the first crop in the country.
There are two maize crops in Brazil, one between September and November and another in the first half of the following year and another sown between December and January, picked in the middle of the following year. According to the Conab there was a reduction of 30% in the planted area in the first crop due to lower prices of maize on the market. Early this year, however, the prices of the commodity started recovering.
Brazil exported, in January, a total of 1.04 million tonnes of maize. Conab forecasts show that the country should ship abroad nine million tonnes of maize this year.
*Translated by Mark Ament
