São Paulo – The Brazilian experience with exporting through the Postal Service is being reproduced in other countries. Peru and Uruguay have already created systems that emulate the Brazilian initiative, Colombia should do the same next month, and Argentina, Ecuador and Venezuela are also interested, according to the International Business manager of the Postal Service, Djalma Lapuente da Rosa. The Arab countries have already shown themselves favourable to the experience at international meetings but, according to Rosam, there has never been an actual demand from the region.
Exporta Fácil, as the Postal Service export system is called, was established in 2002 as part of an effort of the Brazilian government to simplify the exporting process, granting micro and small businesses access to the foreign market and decentralizing foreign sales in the country, which are too focused on the South and Southeast regions of Brazil. Postal Service agencies are spread throughout the entire country, so the Exporta Fácil has made exporting easier for companies based in small Brazilian cities.
So far, the reproductions of Exporta Fácil abroad have taken place as a result of a project of the South American Regional Infrastructure Integration Initiative (IIRSA, in the Portuguese acronym), a program promoted by the 12 South American governments and geared towards physical integration of the region. According to Djalma, nine of the group’s member countries have already shown interest in taking up exporting via the Postal Service. The initiatives thus far have been implemented by means of banks that operate with the IIRSA, particularly the Inter-American Development Bank (IBD).
Next year, according to Rosa, the Exporta Fácil will also be promoted by means of the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal (Puasp), which should expand it even further. The Universal Postal Union (UPU), a sort of postal arm of the United Nations, is also seeking support of partners and governments in order to take the system to other parts of the world. A similar system is already being developed in Thailand and in Laos, according to a release issued by the press office of the Brazilian Postal Service.
The International Business manager of the Postal Service explains that the adoption of a system for exporting via postal service, in other countries, facilitates the flow of trade with Brazil. He claims that the Brazilian Postal Service is willing to transfer its experience, but says that the initiative is only successful if it involves government action, rather than the Postal Service alone. According to Rosa, with the reduction in mailing of personal and business letters, as a result of Internet use, postal services worldwide are readapting themselves, and the shipping of goods will be one of the new modalities of service.
Last year, the Brazilian Postal Service made 11,000 shipments by means of the Exporta Fácil system and this year, according to Rosa, there should be growth of 10%. In the first half of 2009, an increase of 10% has already been recorded in mailings, according to him. To the Arabs, Brazil exported the equivalent of US$ 60,000 in products via the Postal Service. The country that purchased the most was Saudi Arabia, with 28%. Other importing countries were Syria, Qatar, Yemen, Jordan, Egypt, the Emirates, Oman, Lebanon and Tunisia.
The products imported by Arab countries included pharmaceutical products, clothing, gypsum and cement, machinery and equipment, optical instruments, electric material, jewellery, books and graphic industry materials. The states of Brazil that exported the most to the Arab countries were São Paulo, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and Paraíba.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
