São Paulo – Brazilian exports of dairy products to the Arab market grew 60% in the first quarter of the year, as against the same period last year, according to figures disclosed by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. Revenues with sales reached US$ 5 million from January to March, against US$ 3.1 million in the first three months of 2011.
"The Arabs are great importers of milk and dairy, and are among the main buyers in the world,” said the Business and Market manager at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Rodrigo Solano. According to him, however, Brazil does not make good use of this demand, as the export volume to the region is low.
"Brazil has lower productivity in the milk and dairy sector than the world’s main producers, the United States, New Zealand and the Netherlands,” said Solano. Also weighing heavily is the fact that the country is not self-sufficient in dairy and prices have not been motivating production and export. "But there are opportunities in the Arab world,” he said.
Despite Brazilian exports to the region still being small, they are growing. Shipments of dairy products to the region in the first quarter included milk, milk cream and butter oil. In the same period in 2011, apart from these products, butter was also shipped to the Arab countries.
The countries that bought Brazilian sector products this year up to March were, in decreasing order, Saudi Arabia, with US$ 1.3 million, the Emirates, with US$ 1.02 million, Algeria, with US$ 814,000, Qatar, with US$ 467,000, and Oman, with US$ 358,600. Other buyers were Bahrain, Syria and Tunisia.
*Translated by Mark Ament
