São Paulo – The Arab countries supplied of 5% of all the food and beverages imported by Brazil in the last six years. This data was presented by Fernanda Baltazar, executive of International Business of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, to Arab entrepreneurs of the food sector that are exhibiting at the trade expo APAS Show 2018.
The group of business owners visited the Arab Chamber this Monday (7) morning before the expo’s opening, to prepare for their activities in Brazil. They watched a presentation on the potential of the Brazilian food market. APAS will have 19 exhibiting companies from five Arab nations: Egypt, Sudan, UAE, Lebanon and Tunisia.
According to the data presented by Fernanda, Brazil imported, last year, USD 10.8 billion worth of food and beverages. Imports increased over 2017, when Brazil purchased abroad USD 10.6 billion of food products, but declined in comparison to 2013, when purchases totaled USD 11.9 billion. These numbers were taken from the database of the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (SECEX) of the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services (MDIC).
Among the Arab countries, the main supplier of food and beverages to Brazil, from 2012 to 2017, was Morocco, with 56% of the total sold by the Arabs to the country, followed by Egypt, with 19%, Oman, with 14%, Tunisia, with 5%, and Syria, with 2%. The top-selling products were fish, vegetables, plants, aniseed, dried vegetables, dates, olive oil, molasses, fruits and nuts.
Overall, by the average of the last six years, the main international supplier of food and beverages to Brazil was China, with 17% of the total of imports, followed by the United States, with 16%, Argentina, with 8%, and Germany, with 7%. The Arab countries, together, totaled 5% of the amount imported by Brazil in the period.
The main products – in the food and beverages sector – imported by the Brazilian market in the last six years were wheat and meslin flour, malt, fish meat, fish, ethyl alcohol, milk and cream, olive oil, vegetables, wine and rice.
The representatives of Arab companies that visited the Arab Chamber were introduced to other features of the Brazilian market, such as consumer preferences and habits regarding Brazil’s food and beverages market, the main supermarket chains and the Brazilian negotiation traditions.
The Arab Chamber organized the participation of the Arab exhibitors in the APAS Show. In addition to present their products at the trade expo, extra activities for the companies to get to know the market better were scheduled, such as visits to supermarkets and distribution centers and to the port of Santos. APAS begins this Monday and runs until Thursday (10) at the Expo Center Norte.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
