São Paulo – Brazilian corn exports climbed by almost 200% and Egypt was one of the countries whose purchases increased the most. Egypt was the top importer of Brazilian corn last month. Numbers from the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex) show that Brazil grossed USD 1.3 billion in corn exports in August, up 181% from a year ago.
Brazil sold USD 158.4 million in corn to the Egyptian market in August from USD 40.5 million in August last year. The increase was a bit higher than the overall growth: 291%. The country was the top importer, followed by Iran at US 157 million, Japan at USD 143.5 million, Spain at USD 141.8 million, and Vietnam at USD 112.6 million. The top ten buyers list continue with South Korea, Taiwan, Colombia, Malaysia, and Mexico.
Tendências agribusiness advisor Felipe Novaes explains that the hike in Brazilian corn exports was mainly driven by an increased production of the grain. “The trend is that the climb occurs in the already traditional destinations,” Novaes told ANBA, referring to Egypt and other foreign markets that buy corn form Brazil.
Last year, Brazil faced a decline the culture crop. Production stood at 80.7 million tonnes in the 2017-18 farming season, as per figures from the National Supply Company (Conab), down 17.5% from the previous season. In turn, the 2018-19 crop, which is almost finished, is expected to produce 99.3 million tonnes of corn, up 23% from the previous season.
Tendências advisor mentioned yet two other factors explaining the climb in exports. Besides the increase in supply, there’s the current exchange rate with a weak Real, which favors exports since it makes Brazilian products more competitive in the foreign market. Novaes pointed out that August 2018 saw the dollar at BRL 3.93, while August 2019 saw dollar at BRL 4.
An economist, Novaes also believes that corn global trade changed due to a swine fever in Asia. Since the animals’ death, the region, which is a large pork producer, started buying meat from other parts around the world instead of buying corn to feed its herds. Therefore, the international corn traffic must have significantly changed.
Out of the ten top destinations of the Brazilian corn in August, only one purchased less. It was the second top buyer, Iran, which acquired USD 156.9 million last month from USD 185.8 million in August 2018. All the other countries on the list increased their exports from a year ago, as shown by numbers made available by Secex.
Other Arab countries also purchased maize grains from Brazil in August, including Morocco at USD 29 million, Jordan at USD 17 million, Saudi Arabia at USD 7.8 million, Algeria at USD 6.4 million, and Kuwait at 5.8 million. Lebanon, Tunisia, the UAE and Syria also imported in lesser amounts.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
