São Paulo – Brazilian imports of fertilizers from the Arab world grew 273% in the first quarter of this year as against the same period last year and reached US$ 94.7 million. According to Tomás Huyer, the director at Intertrade Group, a company that works with imports of the product from the region, what happened was anticipation of purchases by Brazilian suppliers.
"As grain prices are very good, farmers sold well and are already buying fertilizer for the next crop," he said. Adding that this was mainly the case in the states of Paraná and Mato Grosso.
In fact, Brazil has not significantly increased its imports of fertilizers from the Arab world alone, but also from the world as a whole. Between January and March, according to figures supplied by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, purchases of the product on the foreign market totalled US$ 1.3 billion, growth of 71% over the US$ 761.3 million of the same months in 2010. In terms of volume there was growth of 41%, to 3.5 million tonnes.
This lower growth in volume than in revenues took place due to the fact that fertilizers have high prices, recalled Huyer. From the Arab market, for example, while expenses with imports rose 273%, the volume shipped expanded 169%, to 212,000 tonnes. The main supplier among the Arab nations was Morocco. The country’s sales totalled US$ 53 million, expansion of 114%. Among the Arabs, other Brazilian suppliers of fertilizers were Qatar (US$ 17 million), Egypt (US$ 12 million) and Oman (US$ 11.7 million).
Tunisia, always a traditional supplier, was not included in the list. The country, according to Huyer, stopped exporting after the social unrest that resulted in a change of government. According to him, only now, after three months, should they return to exports. This is so true that, in the period, the Brazilian market sought GTSP, a kind of phosphate-based fertilizer sold by Tunisia, in China. Sales from China to Brazil rose from US$ 644,000 to US$ 84.6 million. But this should change. Huyer stated that the market should return to buying from Tunisia, as the Chinese product is lower quality.
Other countries that sold fertilizers to Brazil in great volumes in the quarter were Russia US$ 265.9 million), Belarus (US$ 193 million), Canada (US$ 168.5 million), the United States (US$ 137 million), the Ukraine (US$ 94.8 million), Germany (US$ 76 million) and Israel (US$ 47 million). The other sellers had revenues of under US$ 20 million. The main products shipped to Brazil by the Arabs were urea with nitrogen and ammonium dihydrogen orthophosphate.
The figures above refer to products classified as "Manures and Fertilizers" by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. They do not, for example, include inorganic chemicals, like calcium phosphate and sodium triphosphate or sulphur, also used as fertilizers or as inputs for the product. Brazilian imports of calcium phosphate and sodium triphosphate from the Arabs totalled US$ 22.2 million from January to March, as against US$ 25 million in the same months in 2010. In sulphur, Brazil imported US$ 19 million.
*Translated by Mark Ament
