Isaura Daniel*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
São Paulo – Saudi Arabia has been increasing its purchases of industrialised coffee from Brazil. Data supplied by the Brazilian Coffee Industry Association (Abic) show that Saudi imports grew 316% in the first quarter this year compared with the same period in 2007, in volume, and 291.8% in revenues. Saudi Arabia was the 12th largest market for Brazilian industrialised coffee during the period. Shipments, however, are still low. Revenues totalled US$ 47,000, the equivalent of two tonnes.
The executive director at the Abic, Nathan Herszkowicz, who is also the executive president at the Union of Coffee Industries of the State of São Paulo, calls attention to the fact that the type of coffee to which the figures apply is the fully industrialised, ground and milled, variety, packed and sold under Brazilian brands. "Exports of industrialised coffee are recent, they began in 2003, with the programme of the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex), the work of the Union and of the Abic," says the executive.
Brazilian industries started to enter the Arab market, according to him, as a consequence of their participation in the Gulfood, a trade fair for the food sector that is held every year in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and which is a reference in the Arab world. The Arab market is one of the targets of the Apex programme for encouraging exports in the sector, according to Herszkowicz. "The Arab countries are already large buyers of Brazilian coffee bean," says the director. Thus, the industrialised coffee sector also expects to make much progress in the region in the future.
Herszkowicz claims that there is a good market for the ground and milled product in the Arab world, given the fact that the Arab countries, along with Ethiopia, are the cradle of coffee. "It was widely consumed by the Muslims, it used to be very traditional in the East, before it even went to Europe and became known in the West," says the director at the Abic. The organisation expects industrialised coffee exports to the Arab market to grow approximately 30% this year, the same increase that should occur in overall foreign sales.
"Our exports of industrialised coffee are seeing steep increases from year to year. For 2008, we are expecting growth of 30%, which can be surpassed," says Herszkowicz. Last year, foreign sales of this type of coffee totalled US$ 26.6 million. Between January and March this year, they reached US$ 9.2 million, at 1,700 tonnes. The growth in revenues, compared with the first quarter of 2007, reached 207%, and the increase in shipped volume stood at 145.6%. There was also an increase of 25.03% in average price, which was US$ 5.45 per kilogram. The leading destinations for Brazilian industrialised coffee are the United States, Italy and Japan.
Brazil is the leading coffee producer country in the world. Last year, the country produced 33.4 million bags of coffee. For the 2008/2009 crop, the forecast is that 44.2 million bags should be harvested. Planted area for coffee is 2.3 million hectares, with an average productivity of 19 bags per hectare. The country is also the leading exporter of coffee. Last year, the country sold 28.1 million bags to foreign countries, including all types of coffee. The increase over total exports in 2007 was 2.6%. The segment is driven ahead, in Brazil, by 300,000 rural properties, two thirds of which are small sized.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
