São Paulo – Exports from Brazil to the Arab countries fetched USD 1.825 billion in the first two months of this year, up 2.1% from a year ago, as per Brazilian Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services numbers compiled by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
Out of the region’s ten biggest markets, sales from Brazil increased to the United Arab Emirates (10%), Egypt (209%), Qatar (66%), Tunisia (182%) and Lebanon (5.3%), but dropped to Saudi Arabia (4.8%), Algeria (30.5%), Oman (25%), Morocco (22%) and Bahrain (11%).
Results in the first two months of 2018 were fueled by sales of iron ore, up 13%, beef, up 23.5%, maize, up 133%, and defense material, up 3,017%. In absolute terms, sugar was the top-selling product, followed by poultry, iron ore, beef and maize.
Overall, agribusiness exports from Brazil fetched USD 1.23 billion, down 9.17% year-on-year, while shipped volume going up 13.53%.
According to the Arab Brazilian Chamber, the drop in agribusiness export revenue stemmed from fluctuations in international sugar prices and weaker demand for poultry in some countries. The Chamber’s CEO Michel Alaby said poultry stockpiles were going strong in the region, so importers chose to offload them, and that took away from imports.
“January and February are usually weaker months,” said Alaby. “An improvement is likely to happen in March as soy exports begin, as does inventory building for the Ramadan,” he added, in a reference to the Muslim calendar month during which followers fast from sunup to sundown but gather for big feasts at night. This year, the Ramadan will begin in mid-May.
Imports
Conversely, Brazil imported USD 1.143 billion worth of goods from Arab countries, down 10.3% from a year ago.
The country imported less from Saudi Arabia (20.5%), Algeria (35%), Morocco (28%), Qatar (22.4%), Egypt (5.8%), the UAE (7.8%) and Bahrain (34.6%), and more from Kuwait (33.7%) and Oman (292.5%). Imports from Iraq were level year-on-year.
Imports were down 4.7% for oil and oil products and 35.8% for fertilizers, but plastics imports climbed 79.8%.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum