São Paulo – Brazil has expanded exports of paper to the Arab countries by 82% from January to July this year. According to figures obtained from the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex) of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, revenues with sales of paper to the region rose from US$ 23.3 million in the first seven months of 2008 to US$ 42.6 million in the same months this year. The country that purchased most Brazilian paper, among the Arab nations, was Egypt, in North Africa.
The growth took place contrary to what is taking place on the foreign market as a whole. According to figures supplied by the Brazilian Pulp and Paper Association (Bracelpa), there was a reduction of 18.4% in national paper exports in the first half of this year when compared to the same period in 2008. There was also a reduction of 3.9% in Brazilian production up to June. In the period, the country produced 4.5 million tonnes. The sector of pulp also had a reduction in production, but greater exports.
This year the Arab world imported from Brazil mainly Kraft and fibre paper. Apart from Egypt, other Arab nations that bought Brazilian paper this year were Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Mauritania and Sudan. Egypt answered to almost half of the imports: US$ 19.8 million. The country also greatly expanded its purchases, 84%, as from January to July 2008, they had totalled US$ 10.7 million.
According to Bracelpa figures, the sector plans to improve its results in the second half of this year to remain in the 12th place among the main global producers of paper and in the fourth place among producers of pulp. The target is to produce, in 2009, the same volume as produced in the past, when production totalled 12.7 million tonnes of pulp and 9.4 million tonnes of paper. According to the association, the not so positive performance in the first half reflects the international economic crisis.
*Translated by Mark Ament