São Paulo – The Agro-industry Cooperative Águas Frias (Cooperáguas, in the Portuguese acronym) sends to Egypt nearly 30% of the brown-eyed beans exported. Headquartered in the municipality of Águas Frias, in Santa Catarina, and with units in Campos de Júlio and Sorriso, Mato Grosso, the cooperative accounts for 70% of the brown-eyed beans exported from Brazil, according to Paulo Henrique Ribeiro de Aguiar, who is in charge of the production and processing of the legume to be exported at Cooperáguas.
The cooperative sells between 36,000 tonnes and 48,000 tonnes of brown-eyed beans per annum, and 50% to 70% of this total is intended for the domestic market. The rest of the output is exported. India is the main foreign buyer, followed by Egypt, according to Aguiar. The beans are also sold to other countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia and Pakistan. Tunisia and the Emirates, however, buy barely negligible volumes.
Aguiar says that exports to Arabs stemmed from contacts made at international fairs. Cooperáguas takes part in leading global food fairs, such as Sial, held in Paris, and Anuga, in Germany.
Brazil has only recently started supplying beans to Arabs, thus purchases have been increasing slowly. “They stop purchasing from long-term suppliers and they need to import this good, so they are switching to us cautiously. But we can see it increasing,” says Aguiar about Arab purchases.
He says that the asking price is competitive and is good for both buyer and seller. Brazil’s competitors in the region are China, Myanmar and Madagascar, according to Aguiar.
Brown-eyed beans are not the most appropriate beans to make broth. They are usually eaten without the broth in Brazil, mainly in dishes of North and Northeast Brazil’s cuisine. In the Arab countries which export beans from Cooperáguas, Aguiar explains the legume is eaten without much broth, and also used to make handmade balls.
Cooperáguas has over 2,000 members, who produce soybeans, maize, beans and popcorn. They grow their production in the states of Mato Grosso, Paraná and Santa Catarina. Due to weather conditions, however, all the beans are grown in Mato Grosso. The cooperative is run by Ademir Zanella.
Contact
Cooperáguas
Email: cooperaguas@cooperaguas.com.br
Phone: (+5549) 3332-1000
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
