São Paulo – Brazilian sugar exports to the Arab countries in September grew 122% in comparison with the same month last year. According to figures supplied by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, exports of the product to the region leaped from US$ 136.8 million in September 2008 to US$ 304 million last month. Sugar accounted for 37% of total exports from Brazil to the Arabs in September.
According to the secretary general of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, the increase took place mainly due to crop failure in India and Australia, two countries that produce the commodity. The problems faced by the competitors are reflecting on overall sugar exports from Brazil, rather than only to the Arabs. Sales have grown by 69.9% in September compared with the same month of 2008 and totalled US$ 900 million.
In the Arab world, the United Arab Emirates purchased nearly half of what Brazil sold to the region. The country spent US$ 141.2 million on imports of Brazilian sugar. Alaby underscores that the Emirates are large re-exporters, the commodity not only supplied the country’s domestic market, but must have also been shipped to other nations nearby.
The second largest buyer of Brazilian sugar in the Arab market in September was Saudi Arabia, with purchases equivalent to US$ 42.6 million. Egypt ranked third, with US$ 39.4 million. Other Arab countries that bought sugar from Brazil were Morocco, Syria, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Lebanon, Yemen, Djibouti, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Somalia, Bahrain and Sudan.
Volume-wise, the rate of growth of sugar exports from Brazil to the Arabs was lower, because the price of the commodity is higher due to crop failure in the leading supplying countries worldwide. The volume shipped has gone from 499,000 tonnes in September 2008 to 862,000 tonnes last month, growth of 72%. In the ninth month last year, Brazil sold sugar to the Arabs at average prices of US$ 282 and US$ 259 per liquid metric tonne. This year, the prices were US$ 345 and US$ 371.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
