São Paulo- Agricultural cooperatives of the state of Paraná are discovering the Arab market and have already sold to 15 of the 22 countries of the region. For the coming ten years, the sector plans to place its products on the entire Arab world.
The Union and Organization of Cooperatives of the State of Paraná (Ocepar) understands that that market, which purchases around US$ 47 billion in the agribusiness productive chain products each year, is fundamental in the strategy of Paraná state cooperatives of increasing their sales of products on the international market.
"Cooperatives of the state of Paraná have been expanding exports to the world each year. We are maintaining and broadening our placement of products in traditional partners like the European countries, the United States, Japan and Russia, and our strategy also crosses winning new markets," explained the technical and economic manager at Ocepar, Flavio Turra. This is the case, for example, with the Arab countries, India, China and other Asian and South American nations.
The cooperative system of Paraná has as one of its strategies expanding participation in global sector exports from the current 13.5% to 25%. Last year, revenues of the 238 cooperatives of the state reached 25 billion reals, growth of 36.9% over 2007.
Of this total, the 81 agricultural cooperatives had a turnover of 22.5 billion reals. According to Turra, the agricultural cooperatives of the state answered to 18% of the state GDP and to 55% of the agricultural production of Paraná.
Last year, according to the Market Management (Germerc) department at the Organization of Brazilian Cooperatives (OCB), exports of cooperatives of the state of Paraná (US$ 1,5 billion) answered to 35.97% of Brazilian cooperative exports.
The Arabs
Today, the Ocepar System already places its products in 114 countries, 15 Arab. China, for example, is the third main buyer, losing only to Germany and Japan. And the objective, according to Turra, is for sector foreign sales to expand from the current 13.5% to at least 20% of the financial turnover of cooperatives.
With regard to the Arabs, Turra said to ANBA that, apart from the traditional clients in the Middle East and North Africa, as is the case with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Algeria, in 2008, the 81 agricultural cooperatives of the state exported, for the first time, to Tunisia, Syria, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Libya and Jordan.
According to him, together, these eight new partners buy from the cooperative system of the state of Paraná a total of US$ 8.242 million. Tunisia alone imported US$ 4.6 million in products like chicken, wheat, refined soy oil and soy oil in bulk, milk, cream, cotton, ground and roasted non-decaf coffee and coffee grains.
Another performance that called the attention of the market analysts at Ocepar was that of Syria, which purchased from the cooperative system of the state of Paraná a total of US$ 2.1 million.
Turra classifies as extraordinary the sales (basically chicken) to Saudi Arabia last year, as the country imported from cooperatives in the state of Paraná a total of US$ 13.3 million, growth of 2,273% over 2007.
Egypt, with US$ 12.664 million, and Algeria, with US$ 10.95 million, were, respectively, the second and third main Arab importers from the Ocepar System.
In total, foreign sales to 15 Arab nations resulted in revenues of US$ 46.757 million last year. The main part came from sales of chicken.
This is due to the fact that, according to the technical and economic manager at the Ocepar, with the expansion of its agro industrial units, the sector has increased its production scale, which made possible turning a greater volume to the foreign market. This is why, this year, despite the crisis, the sector should maintain or remain close to the volume of investment made last year: 1.5 billion reals.
"Today, due to the quality of the product and the competitive price, the chicken exported by the cooperatives has started finding space on the Arab market, previously occupied by large exporters, including Brazilian ones," finished off Turra.
*Translated by Mark Ament
