São Paulo – Brazilian soy exports rose 67% in volume in the first half of this year as against the same period in 2011. The figures disclosed by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade show that they totalled 237,000 tonnes from January to June, as against 141,500 tonnes in the same months last year. Revenues rose 65%, to US$ 119 million.
Brazilian soy exports as a whole grew in the period, 29%, to 23.51 million tonnes. According to the secretary general of the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove), Fábio Trigueirinho, the increase was due to the Brazilian crop being put on the market, which resulted in soy prices in the country becoming very competitive on the international market.
Brazil is also taking advantage of the period between crops in the United States, which enters the market in the second half of the year. “In the second half, soy exports should drop,” says Trigueirinho, showing as a reason not just competition with the soy of the United States, but also the fact that Brazil has no more soy to export in the period. He said that sales sped up in the first quarter.
The secretary general at the Abiove believes that the growth in sales to the Arabs was boosted by the same market movement. Revenues with Brazilian soy exports totalled US$ 11.94 billion from January to June, according to figures disclosed by the ministry, with 35% expansion. The Ministry mentions the anticipation of shipments and price increases, 5.1%, as factors generating the greater exports.
In soy sales to the Arab world, the main buyer was Saudi Arabia, which bought 179,000 tonnes of the grain, followed by Tunisia, with 58,000 tonnes, and then Algeria, with just 20 tonnes. The main Brazilian exporter states to the region were, in this order, Mato Grosso, Maranhão, Tocantins, Bahia and Piauí. Other Brazilian states, however, also exported soy to the region.
*Translated by Mark Ament
