São Paulo – Brazilian imports of Arab products grew more than Brazilian exports to the region in the first half of this year. According to information disclosed by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, compiled by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, purchases from the Middle East and North Africa totalled US$ 4.55 billion, 41% more than in the same period in 2010.
The products weighing heaviest in the trade basket were oil, oil products, fertilizers and inputs used in the area of fertilizers. Imports of the oil industry totalled US$ 3.64 billion in the half, growth of 32% over the first six months of last year.
"The price of oil has risen,” said the CEO at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Michel Alaby, regarding the reason for growth. In fact, in volume, purchases of oil products even dropped a little.
The price of the commodity partly influenced the expansion of values paid by Brazil for fertilizers, the second main item in the basket. Urea, for example, is a by-product of oil. “[The increase in the price of oil] also increases that of urea, an input for fertilizers,” said Alaby.
But imports of fertilizers and inputs for this sector had strong growth both in value and in volume. Purchases of fertilizers totalled US$ 522.34 million, growth of 174% over the first half of 2010. Over one million tonnes were shipped, against less than 500,000 in the same period last year.
In the case of items like sulphur and calcium phosphate, imports totalled US$ 145 million, expansion of 42% in the same comparison. The business in the group of inorganic chemical products, composed mainly by phosphoric acid, rose 89% and reached US$ 77 million.
Fertilizers positively influenced sales of several Arab countries to Brazil, like Qatar, Egypt, Oman, but mainly Morocco, one of the main global producers and exporters in the field. The country from North Africa shipped the equivalent to US$ 497.52 million to the Brazilian market in the first half, 103% more than in the same period in 2010. Fertilizers and sector input answered to the main part of this value.
According to figures disclosed by the National Association for the Promotion of Fertilizers and Lime (Anda), total Brazilian imports of fertilizers reached almost nine million tonnes in the first six months of 2011, 51% more than in the first half of 2010. The country’s sales, including domestic production, exceeded 11 million tonnes, growth of almost 30% in the same comparison.
The executive director at Anda, David Roquetti Filho, said, according to Reuters agency and to the internet site of magazine Globo Rural, that trade of fertilizers rose due to a greater crop sown in the first half and to the anticipation of purchases for cultivation in the second half of the year.
“Producers are capitalizing, as production of commodities has reached peak levels,” said the executive, according to the website of Globo Rural. "A large part [of fertilizer sales] is turned to consumption and went to the soil, for the second maize crop. But there is also good anticipation of purchases for the coming soy crop,” he added, according to Reuters.
Agribusiness
On the other way, exports of food and Brazilian agribusiness products, the sector that absorbs most fertilizers, rose 32.6% to the Middle East and North Africa in the first half. They generated US$ 4.45 billion, according to information supplied by the Arab Brazilian Chamber. Total sales from Brazil to the region totalled US$ 6.41 billion, which, aligned to fertilizers, shows the importance of the interior to bilateral trade.
As informed by ANBA on Tuesday (12), wheat was the highlight in shipments to the Arab nations, as were vegetable oils. There was also growth of revenues with sales of meats, mainly chicken, coffee and soy.
Trade Balance
Even with imports rising above exports, Brazil increased its trade surplus to US$ 1.86 billion in trade with the Arabs in the first six months of the year. Bilateral trade, which is the total of all bilateral transactions, was almost US$ 11 billion. The figures do not include Libya, a conflagrated country.
*Translated by Mark Ament
