São Paulo – Soy oil helped boost Brazilian agribusiness exports to the Arab world in the first quarter this year and in the month of March. "The highlights were Algeria and Egypt, which are African Arab countries, and whose imports of soy oil have risen. that suggests that there should be greater concern over domestic supply or imports substitution," said the director of the International Agribusiness Promotion Department at the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Marcelo Junqueira.
Egypt purchased the equivalent of US$ 7 million in soy oil from Brazil from January until March last year, a figure that grew to US$ 106 million in the same period of 2011. In terms of volume, imports have gone from 10,000 tonnes to 88,000 tonnes. Algeria did not purchase Brazilian soy oil in the first quarter, as against US$ 46 million in imports in the same period this year. According to figures of the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Arab countries as a whole purchased the equivalent of US$ 156 million in soy oil by the end of March this year, as against US$ 17 million in the first quarter of 2010.
In March alone, Arab countries purchased US$ 72 million in soy oil from Brazil, as against US$ 7 million in the same month of 2010. Egypt and Algeria, in that order, were the top buyers, but the United Arab Emirates also imported, though at smaller volumes. Junqueira emphasizes that some of the countries in the region had domestic political problems, partly caused by high food prices, and governments are probably seeking to supply their populations more adequately.
Soy oil, by the way, was one of the Brazilian agricultural products for which first-quarter exports have grown not only in revenues, but also in volume, according to Junqueira. Even though the average price of soy oil has increased, the volume shipped has gone up by 146%, according to Junqueira. Revenues from exports of soy grain, chaff and oil combined grew by 25.5 from January until March, whereas the volume shipped dropped by 4%.
Revenues from exports rose for most Brazilian agribusiness products due to the high commodities’ prices. This was the main contributing factor to the growth in total exports b the sector, which increased by 23.2% in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period of 2010, and reached US$ 17.8 billion. In March alone, the same factor influenced sales, which grew by 22.6% to reach US$ 7.4 billion. "The rate is very expressive," claimed Junqueira, underscoring that the average growth has remained stable over the last few months and should continue in coming ones.
In the first quarter this year, some regions stood out as export targets. One of them was Africa, which comprises some Arab countries. The region imported the equivalent of US$ 1.9 billion in agriculture and livestock products from Brazil, an increase of 69%. In March, African countries increased their purchases by 80.6%, to reach US$ 740 million. Sales to the Middle East, which comprises the remaining Arab countries, did not grow as much, however: 23.7% in the first quarter, to reach US$ 1.8 billion, and 10.2% in March, to reach US$ 610 million.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
