São Paulo – Exports from Brazil to the Arab countries totalled US$ 6.58 billion in the first half, growth of 1.67% over the same period last year, according to figures disclosed by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.
The CEO at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, said that, although small, the growth "is a positive factor", as total Brazilian exports dropped 0.92% in the same comparison.
There was expansion in sales of items like meats, sugar, ores, chemical products, machinery and equipment, oleaginous plants (soy and peanut), tobacco, gold, paper, standing cattle and wood. Shipment of grain, vegetable oil, coffee, processed meats and vehicles, however, dropped.
In June, exports generated little more than US$ 1 billion, a reduction of 9% over the same month in 2011. The reduction, however, was lower than what took place in total foreign sales of the country, 18.3% in June.
The reduction was caused mainly by a significant reduction in shipments of sugar. Alaby pointed out that there was lack of the product in the market. "Brazil has even had to import sugar,” he said. The country is the world’s main producer and exporter of the commodity.
Sales of meats also dropped. These two product groups are the main products in the Brazilian export basket to the Arab world.
Shipments of ores, the third most important item in the basket, in turn, rose. "The growth of exports of ores is due to the Vale mill in Oman,” said Alaby. The Brazilian mining company has in the Gulf country an iron ore pelleting plant.
The growth of ore export caused a change in the list of main destinations of Brazilian products in the Arab world. In June, Oman was in the second place, a position traditionally occupied by Morocco, which fell to sixth. In the half, the sultanate came in third place, only behind Saudi Arabia and Egypt, with the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, and Morocco following.
Other products that expanded in the month of June were grain, vegetable oil, machinery and equipment, coffee, oil coke, plastics and steel pipes.
Imports
In the area of imports, Brazil has expanded its purchases from the Arab world by 35% in the first six months of 2012 as against the same period in 2011. They totalled US$ 6.15 billion. The performance was boosted by imports of oil and its products.
In June, purchases exceeded US$ 1.6 billion, 37% more than in the same month last year. Oil and oil products and fertilizers boosted the business.
The main suppliers of Brazil in the first half were Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, Iraq and Qatar.
*Translated by Mark Ament
