São Paulo – The United Arab Emirates was the leading importer of products from Brazil’s cooperatives in quarter one this year. According to figures released by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, the Emirates imported the equivalent of US$ 174.7 million, i.e. 12.4% of cooperatives’ total exports. The amount is up 78% from quarter one 2012.
Aside from the Emirates, the nine other countries in the list of top ten importing countries from Brazilian cooperatives are United States, China, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Netherlands, Malaysia and Egypt. Saudi Arabia imported US$ 86.04 million, i.e. 6.1% of the total, and Egypt imported US$ 35.7 million, i.e. 2.54%. Cooperatives’ exports to Saudi Arabia more than doubled from the same period last year, and exports to Egypt were up 183%.
Quarter one results also show that total exports from Brazilian cooperatives were up 9% in Q1 2013 from Q1 2012. According to the Ministry, exports stood at US$ 1.409 billion, as against US$ 1.293 billion in Q1 2012. Cooperatives accounted for 2.85 of all exports from Brazil during the period.
Cooperatives’ imports, in turn, were down 10.5% to US$ 48 million, and were equivalent to 0.1% of Brazil’s total Q1 imports. Bilateral trade stood at US$ 1.458 billion and a US$ 1.36 billion trade surplus was recorded, both of which are all-time highs for the quarter, according to the Ministry.
The main products shipped by cooperatives were refined sugar, at US$ 369.3 million, i.e. 26.2% of total exports. Sales of coffee beans, the second leading export product of Brazil’s cooperatives, amounted to US$ 158.6 million, i.e. 11.3%.
The Brazilian cooperatives’ top import products include urea with a nitrogen content higher than 45 (11.7% of total imports), machinery and devices for preparation of meats (10.4%) and potassium chloride (10.3%).
Origin and destination
São Paulo was the leading state in cooperatives’ exports in Q1. The state shipped US$ 616.2 million worth of products, equivalent to 43.7% of total exports. Next came the state of Paraná, which exported US$ 347.3 million (24.7%).
According to the technical and economic advisor to the Organization of Cooperatives of the State of Paraná (Ocepar), Gilson Martins, the state’s organizations had a good crop in the the first three months this year, and yet the state’s exports failed to keep up with the industry’s growth and were down from Q1 last year, when they amounted to US$ 419.8 million. “Due to excess rainfall in March, some products were not shipped [in that month], but only [later on] in April. The good performance of Paraná’s cooperatives will show up in the results in months to come,” said Martins.
Exports from Paraná state cooperatives to Arab countries amounted to US$ 48 million in Q1 this year, down 16% from Q1 2012. Shipments of sugar, for instance, dropped from US$ 26 million to US$ 11 million. On the other hand, maize and soya oil exports increased. The leading buyer of products from Paraná cooperatives was Egypt, with US$ 34 million in imports, followed by Algeria with US$ 11 million and Saudi Arabia with US$ 1.1 million.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
