São Paulo – The countries of the Middle East have reduced their imports of Brazilian agricultural and livestock products by 1.4% in the accumulated result this year, up to October, according to information disclosed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply. Purchases by the region totalled US$ 6.80 billion in the first ten months of the year as against US$ 6.89 billion in the same period in 2012. The Middle East includes several Arab countries, but also the non-Arab Iran and Israel.
Africa, another region in the world in which there are Arab nations, also bought fewer agribusiness items from Brazil this year up to October. Sales to the region totalled US$ 6.2 billion against US$ 7 billion in the same period last year. The reduction was 12.3%. The participation of both regions as importers of Brazilian agribusiness products dropped. The Middle East fell from 8.5% to 7.9% and Africa from 8.7% to 7.2%.
In the month of October, alone, the reduction in sales to both regions as against the same month in 2012 was even greater. The Middle East reduced its purchases by 24.3%, from US$ 1.02 billion to US$ 773.8 million, and Africa fell from US$ 910 million to US$ 701.8 million, with a reduction of 22.9%. The participation of the former in Brazilian agribusiness foreign sales dropped from 10.6% to 9.2%, and the latter fell from 9.4% to 8.3%.
Brazilian agribusiness exports as a whole grew 6.9% from January to October and totalled US$ 86.42 billion. The growth was US$ 5.54 billion. The soy complex was responsible for 82% of this expansion. The most exported products were those in the area, generating US$ 29.19 billion in revenues, growth of 18.4% over the same months in 2012.
Asia was the region in the world that purchased most Brazilian agricultural products in the first ten months of the year. The region imported 42.2% of the total, with US$ 36.51 billion and growth of 21.3% over the same period in 2012. Sales to the second main destination, the European Union, dropped slightly, 0.2%, to US$ 18.84 billion. The third main destination was the Nafta, the bloc that includes the United States, Canada and Mexico. The group bought 9.5% more, totalling US$ 7.2 billion. Next in the ranking come the Middle East and Africa.
In October alone, Brazil’s agriculture product exports dropped 12.6%, to US$ 8.42 billion. They were US$ 9.64 billion in the same month in 2012. The greatest main item in the basket was beef, with US$ 1.57 billion, followed by the soy complex, with US$ 1.56 billion. Asia was also the main buyer, followed by the European Union. The Middle East was the third main destination, Africa the fourth and the Nafta the fifth.
*Translated by Mark Ament
