São Paulo – The Brazilian market has almost doubled imports of sardines from the Arab world in January. The purchases rose from 3,300 tonnes in January last year to 5,800 tonnes in the first month of this year, according to figures supplied by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. The growth, in terms of volume, was 73%.
Imports rose further in terms of value. In January last year, Brazil spent US$ 2.2 million on sardines purchased from the Arab world. In the same month of this year, the expenses rose to US$ 4.9 million. The growth reached 118%. Sardines were supplied by just one Arab country, Morocco, which is in North Africa.
Morocco is one of the great world producers of fish and sardines. According to information published by news agency Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP), last year the fishery sector in the country generated one million tonnes of the product. The volume represented growth of 15% over the previous year.
The activity generated to Morocco, US$ 911 million in revenues. The growth was 24% over the previous year. Manual and coastal fishing was mainly responsible for this performance and answered to 91% of the volumes shipped. The rest came from deep seas. With regard to revenues, 61% came from manual fishing, as deep-sea products have the highest added value.
The Brazilian states that imported most sardines from Morocco in January this year were Santa Catarina, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Santa Catarina was the state that purchased most Moroccan sardines, with 3,400 tonnes and revenues of US$ 2.4 million. Rio was the second main buyer, with 2,300 tonnes and US$ 2.2 million. São Paulo purchased a small volume: US$ 58,000.
*Translated by Mark Ament
