Isaura Daniel*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
São Paulo – Brazilian manufacturing industries have increased their exports of cheese to the Arab countries by 20.2% in the first seven months of this year, in comparison with the same period of last year. Exports went up from US$ 743,700 from January until July 2006 to US$ 894,600 in the same months of 2007. Nevertheless, in terms of volume, the increase in sales was smaller than in terms of value, due to the high prices of milk, the main raw material for cheese manufacturing. They grew by 11.53%, from 304 tonnes to 339 tonnes.
According to the vice president at the Brazilian Cheese Industry Association (Abiq), Paulo Hegg, the growth in sales to the Arab countries could have been greater if the price of milk had not risen in the last twelve month. The high pricing also affected dairy products. Factors such as drought in Australia, a leading global milk producer, and floods in Argentina, another leading manufacturer, combined with the heightened demand for the product in Asia and in the new countries of the European Common Market, have driven milk prices up, according to Hegg.
Nevertheless, the Arabs bought more cheese from Brazil. The countries in the region that imported the Brazilian product from January until July were Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia was the main buyer, at US$ 641,800, followed by Lebanon, at US$ 174,900, Yemen, at US$ 33,300, and the Emirates, at US$ 17,000. The greatest increase in sales happened in Yemen, which imported 985% more. But the Arab country had only imported the equivalent of US$ 3,000 in the first seven months of 2006.
The second greatest increase in purchases of Brazilian cheese among the Arabs was that of Lebanon, whose imports rose by 72.6%. Saudi Arabia bought 11.86% more. The United Arab Emirates, though, imported 252% less, and countries such as Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman, which had bought small volumes of cheese from Brazil in 2006, have not imported this year so far. The largest volume of Brazilian cheese imports, among the Arabs, was that of fresh mozzarella.
Among the Brazilian states, the leading supplier of cheese to the Arabs, from January until July, was the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, with sales of US$ 628,000, followed by the states of Mato Grosso do Sul (MW), with US$ 130,000 in sales, and Minas Gerais (SE), with sales worth US$ 109,200. The remaining Brazilian states have not exported cheese to the Arab world during the period. Tirolez, a cheese manufacturer company that owns plants in São Paulo and Minas Gerais, even exported cheese to Lebanon this year, according to Hegg, the export manager at the company, but sales were interrupted approximately three months ago due to the high price of milk.
Actually, the increase was reflected in the Brazilian balance of trade. From January until July, national exports of cheeses and cheese creams decreased by 14.45% in comparison with the same months of 2006, down from US$ 11.9 million to US$ 10.2 million. Volume-wise, sales have also decreased from 4,400 tonnes to 3,600 tonnes, according to information supplied by the Abiq.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
