São Paulo – Egypt’s recent opening its market to Brazilian fish and seafood unveils more business opportunities for the industry, says Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) CEO & secretary-general Tamer Mansour. The market opening was announced in a joint statement from Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Egypt has recently opened its market to cotton lint from Brazil. (Pictured, fisher throws net into river.)
Mansour says that the market opening to Brazilian seafood is “great news,” as despite being bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea, Egypt has a limited variety of fish for consumption.
“Brazil could certainly export larger amounts than any other country in the region,” says Mansour. He points out that this opening increasingly widens the economic relations between the countries and mentions as an example of this rapprochement the recent opening of the Egyptian market to cotton lint. Egypt has also opened its market to collagen and gelatin from Brazil.
“I expect this will tip Egypt-Brazil trade balance in favor of the Brazilian side. We can also believe the Egyptian industry will use these fishes to reindustrialize them and reexport them to neighboring Arican and Arab markets,” he says.
According to information from Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade, year-to-date exports from Brazil grossed USD 2.08 billion through November. The trade between the two countries reached USD 2.5 billion, with imports at USD 468 year to date.
Leading exports to Egypt are sugar, maize, iron ore, beef, poultry, and fuel oil. Top imports are fertilizers.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
