São Paulo – Brazil exported mobile phones to the Arabs between January and May this year. According to figures disclosed by the Foreign Trade System of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, revenues totalled US$ 10.8 million with sales of mobile telephony portable terminals, the telephones themselves, in the first five months of the year. In the same period last year, exports of this kind of product to the League of Arab States totalled just US$ 735,900.
The Arab countries that bought most mobile phones from Brazil between January and May were the Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The Emirates were responsible for almost the totality of imports, US$ 9.4 million, and the Saudis bought US$ 1.4 million. Purchases by the Emirates totalled 52,300 mobile phones and those of Saudi Arabia totalled 14,700 devices. That is, the average value of devices purchased by the Emirates was US$ 180 and by the Saudis, US$ 97, which results in an average price of US$ 162.
Part of the devices exported to the Arabs, however, are nationalised products. That is, those originating outside Brazil but that are exported from the country. According to figures in the Foreign Trade System, of the US$ 10.8 million in revenues, US$ 7.5 million are nationalised products. Next comes the state of São Paulo, which had revenues of US$ 3.3 million with sales of devices to the Middle East, of this total, US$ 1.9 million went to the Emirates and US$ 1.4 million to Saudi Arabia.
The increase in exports of mobile phones from Brazil to the Arab country, however, is going in the opposite direction from the sector as a whole. According to figures supplied by the Association of the Brazilian Electric and Electronic Industry (Abinee), between January and April this year, there was a reduction of 37% in foreign sales of mobile phones. Exports from Brazil totalled US$ 423 million, against US$ 676 million in the same months in 2008. According to the Abinee, devices lost space in the sector export basket and their share fell to 19% this year, against 30% from 2005 to 2006.
*Translated by Mark Ament
