Isaura Daniel*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
São Paulo – Exports of the Brazilian agribusiness to the Arab countries grew 17% in the month of September over the same month of last year. During the first nine months of this year, exports increased by 16% in comparison with the same period of 2006. In total, US$ 417 million in agricultural products were shipped last month, and US$ 3.45 billion from January to September. During the two periods, meats and sugar led the list of exported products. "Meat became the first item of the basket in the accumulated result for the year," says the president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Antonio Sarkis Jr.
In September, products of the sugar and alcohol complex were the most exported, at US$ 206 million and 23% increase over the same month of last year. Meats came right afterwards, with a 6.76% rise in export value, which stood at US$ 157.7 million. From January to September, though, meat was the main item in the export basket, at US$ 1.5 billion and a 30.59% growth rate. Sarkis recalls that the Arab market was already a traditional one for Brazilian chicken meat, and now the export volumes of bovine meat are also increasing significantly.
The sugar and alcohol complex was the second most sold agribusiness item to the Arabs from January to August, at US$ 1.2 billion. However, in that case, there was a 6.44% decrease in value, motivated by the low pricing of sugar. In terms of volume, exports of the complex to the Arabs, which consist mainly of sugar, have increased by 21%, from 3.9 million tonnes to 4.7 million tonnes. In other words, Brazil exported an additional 800,000 tonnes to the Arabs. In September, the increase in sales of sugar and alcohol complex products was much greater in terms of volume than it was in terms of value: 64%.
According to the market analyst for the sugar and alcohol sector at the National Food Supply Company (Conab), Wellington Silva Teixeira, the prices of sugar are decreasing due to an excess in global supply. "The world is producing more than it consumes," says the analyst. According to him, in the Brazilian market, for example, sugar prices have decreased by 37% in the last one-year period. Many countries, according to him, have increased their productions, and are importing less, as is the case with India, Thailand, and Mexico. Therefore, this year, instead of exporting 21 million tonnes of sugar, as previously forecasted, Brazil will sell a little over 19 million tonnes in the foreign market.
Nevertheless, the Arab market did not reduce its import volumes from Brazil so far. From January to September, as well as in the month of September alone, the leading Arab importer of Brazilian sugar and alcohol complex products was the United Arab Emirates. Imports totalled US$ 283 million, an increase of 32% over the same months of 2006. Import volume, however, grew by 88%, to stand at 1.1 million tonnes. The value and volume includes 39,000 cubic metres of alcohol, of the carburant type, that were imported from Brazil by the Arab country.
The second largest Arab importer of the Brazilian sugar and alcohol complex was Saudi Arabia, with purchases worth US$ 196 million, a 6% increase. According to the São Paulo Sugar Cane Agroindustry Union (Unica), the rise in Saudi sugar imports from Brazil is due to the expansion of refineries in the country. "Saudi Arabia is the main supplier of the product (refined granulated sugar) to other nations, such as the Philippines," according to a press release issued by Unica. The Arab country was also the leading buyer of Brazilian meat from January to September, with imports worth US$ 437 million. The second main buyer was Egypt, at US$ 300 million.
Saudi Arabia was the leading importer of Brazilian agribusiness producs as a whole from January to September, at US$ 715 million. THe United Arab Emirates came in second, at US$ 636 million, and Egypt came in third, at US$ 541 million. Besides meat and the sugar and alcohol complex, the main items in the basket also include the soy complex (oil, grain and chaff), forestry products, coffee, livestock and tobacco. According to Sarkis, agribusiness exports to the Arabs should grow by 17% to 18% in 2007.
A good market
As a whole, Brazilian exports to the League of Arab States, including agribusiness and industrial products have also increased from January to September of this year. They went up from US$ 4.53 billion in the first nine months of last year to US$ 5.2 billion in the same period of this year. The growth rate was 15.6%. In September, sales stood at US$ 628 million, representing a 10.5% rise over the same month of 2006.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
