Agência Sebrae*
Brasília – The Brazilian exports of flowers and ornamental plants reached a new record in 2007. Sector sales reached US$ 35.28 million, 9.18% more than in 2006. This result is due to the simultaneous occurrence of factors like the persistent appreciation of the Brazilian real against the dollar and to the recent recovery of the domestic market in the country. This analysis was by engineer and agronomist Antônio Hélio Junqueira and by economist Márcia da Silva Peetz, directors at Hórtica Consultoria e Treinamento, in the city of São Paulo.
The analysis shows that there has not only been expansion of the local consumption of flowers and plants, but that in 2007 there was also a 12% expansion in prices. "Mainly in the sector of ornamental plants for landscaping and gardening, sales have improved stimulated by the consolidation of the boom of the civil construction industry and of the real estate industry as a whole," explained Antônio Hélio.
The group of products that were most prominent in 2007 was ornamental plant saplings, which answered to an average of 43.74% of foreign sales over the last five years, and to 41.99% in 2007. The sector totalled exports of US$ 14.81 million, growth of 9.34% over the same period in 2006. The main importers were the Netherlands, followed by the United States, Italy, Japan, Belgium, Spain and Canada, as well as another 18 countries.
*Translated by Mark Ament
