Isaura Daniel
São Paulo – Together, Brazilian cooperatives exported US$ 177 million to the Arabs in the first six months of this year. They were responsible for 9.51% of the revenues Brazil had with export to the region in the period. "The Arab countries are traditionally supplied by cooperatives in the areas of sugar and chicken," explained Júlio Pohl, the technical advisor to the Organization of Brazilian Cooperatives (OCB), responsible for the study.
The two nations that most purchased from Brazilian cooperatives in the Middle East and North Africa were the United Arab Emirates and Morocco. Revenues with sales to the Emirates reached US$ 64.7 million and to Morocco the total was US$ 34.2 million. Cooperative trade with Morocco was practically stable with regard to the same period last year, rising only 3.5%, but those to the Emirates rose 121%, an increase of US$ 35.5 million.
According to Pohl, apart from sugar and chicken, another two products that sold well to the Arabs were cattle beef and wheat. The advisor stated that Brazilian wheat is starting to be purchased in countries like Yemen, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, and cooperative cattle beef is sold to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon.
Greater than expected
The performance of cooperative export in the first half of 2004 was above OCB expectations, according to Pohl. Together they export US$ 1.05 billion, with growth of 85% over the same months in 2003. The figure includes sales by 150 companies in 13 areas, including agriculture, industry, and handcraft.
The most exported products, however, were agricultural. Cooperatives connected to the rural sector represented around 95% of those selling internationally. Soy and derivatives (ground and oil) are by far the product with greatest international sales, answering to US$ 470 million, or 44.5% of total revenues up to June. The product with the second greatest performance in the period was sugar, with US$ 92 million in revenues.
The OCB technical advisor attributes a large part of this increase in cooperative foreign trade to high commodity prices on the foreign market. In the month of June, soy in grain rose 33.6% in relation to the same period last year, cattle beef rose 27%, maize rose 19%, and cotton rose 18%.
Another factor that may have influenced the increase in foreign trade, according to Pohl, was anticipated shipping. "As the foreign market is better than the domestic market, cooperatives may have taken advantage of this so as to sell and increase cash levels," he explained. The exported volumes also rose, though at lower levels. A total of four billion tonnes were shipped, 73% more than from January to June 2003.
Sustainable growth
Pohl says that export is also the fruit of sustainable growth, based on the work cooperatives have been developing to produce more and sell internationally. "Some cooperatives did not export in the past, and have now started. There were also others that had not exported for a long time, but started again," he added.
Around ten new companies integrated the group of exporters last year, stated Pohl. The sector has, however, potential for greater export, as the OCB catalogue alone includes 7,355 cooperatives. "2,000 could export," stated the advisor.
The clients
The European Union was responsible for the largest part of sales by Brazilian cooperatives in the first half of this year, with US$ 378.6 million, followed by Asia (including Japan), with US$ 312 million.
The Arab countries answered to 16.7% of export in the period, but they have a potential for growth as customers for the cooperatives, stated Pohl. "Export to the Arabs are still restricted to few products," he explained.
Apart from maintaining the shipping of sugar and increasing the shipping of chicken, the advisor believes that the sector could also sell products like furniture to the region. "The Brazilian office furniture design is well accepted around the world," he stated.
