{"id":272975,"date":"2020-05-12T14:59:24","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T17:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=272975"},"modified":"2020-05-12T16:55:34","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T19:55:34","slug":"in-pandemic-arabs-seek-out-more-products-from-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/in-pandemic-arabs-seek-out-more-products-from-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"In pandemic, Arabs seek out more products from Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 The coronavirus pandemic is giving Brazil great opportunities for business with Arabs, Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce<\/strong> president Rubens Hannun said during the Agro 360 show that aired on Terra Viva of the Bandeirantes conglomerate last Monday night (11).<\/p>\n

Hannun said that the Arabs were investing heavily in its domestic food supply. \u201cThe pandemic made them freeze these investments and switch back to buying foodstuffs, especially from Brazil, so we once more have the chance to sell value-added foods and complementary products for their production,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But the moment of global lockdown has also brought some obstacles, Hannun said. \u201cSince 2015 we’ve studied the possibility of direct sea routes to the Arab countries. Now this is even more urgent. The Arab Chamber is giving priority to create these sea routes, as the Arabs need to make sure that the food shipments get there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Another challenge is achieving a greater agility in the exports process. \u201cWe are implementing digital certification in more Arab countries. This came to stay, since it cuts turnaround time to 15 days, lowers the cost and fulfills an important social role, as the product becomes more affordable to the Arab consumer,\u201d Hannun said. A third challenge, he says, is a larger demand for products. \u201cWe\u2019ve worked to find new suppliers to the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, which have saw a demand for more products,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hannun added that Brazil is making sure that the food trade with the Arabs won\u2019t stop. \u201cThis is all our social responsibility, especially with our loyal purchasers. They’ve always seen us like that, so they expect this reciprocity and Brazil\u2019s position is great. That\u2019s what builds up a relation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Professor of Global Agribusiness at Insper, Marcos Jank, said that the most vulnerable regions in food security now are the Arab countries and Sub-Saharan Africa, as they rely heavily on food imports. \u201cBrazil\u2019s position saying that it will help taking foodstuffs to these country during this hard times is very important, it\u2019s a brave position, helping to support food security. We are a key country to supply agriproducts to the Arab countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A study on food security led by the Arab Chamber is examining the complementarity of the demands. \u201cThis is a strategic project for us and the Arabs, as it addresses a critical issue that is food safety. We have the natural resources\u00a0 and the expertise that world knows about, and they have the financial resources. We must attract these resources to production and logistics. The internationalization of the companies is important, too, as having more Brazilian companies breaking into the Arab countries paves the way. It can\u2019t be just a relation of buying and selling, it has to be two-way process,\u201d Hannun said.<\/p>\n

The relation with Arabs, Hannun says, can also bring more benefits to the agroindustry such as jobs. \u201cWe have over four million direct jobs created by agribusiness, and we’ll be able to create much more with Arab investment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also announced that the Arab Chamber will open two more international offices, which are slanted to start operating by the end of the year \u2013 one in Cairo, Egypt, and one in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

The products that could grow or be included in the exports to Arabs include hay, chickpeas, fruits and vegetables. \u201cWe could export technology, research and innovation, and they could invest in our structure. They need to feed their population for the next decades, and we could develop the necessary infrastructure to change Brazil, with lower production costs and higher competitiveness,\u201d congressman Alceu Moreira (MDB-RS), president of the Agriculture and Livestock Parliamentary Front, said on the show.<\/p>\n

Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) president Celso Moretti said that Brazil is celebrating a record-high harvest this year, with over 250 million tonnes. \u201cWe keep in touch with our Arab partners \u2013 we\u2019ve sent the UAE some project proposals regarding genetics adapted to the climate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a recorded video statement, the minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Tereza Cristina, said that the ministry has discussed cooperation in development technology with EMBRAPA and the UAE and has gotten many agribusiness products to break into countries.<\/p>\n

The Agro 360 show \u201cThe Diversification of Brazilian Exports to the Arab World\u201d on Terra Viva channel last Monday (11) night featured live participations via video conference of animal protein giant BRF CEO Lorival Luz and Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA) executive director Ricardo Santin.<\/p>\n

The show also featured recorded statements of Tamer Mansour, secretary-general at the Arab Chamber; Jacyr Costa Filho, chairman at the Superior Council of Agribusiness of the Industry Federation of S\u00e3o Paulo State (Fiesp\/Cosag); Silvia Helena Galv\u00e3o de Miranda, professor at Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (ESALQ-USP) and deputy coordinator at the Center for Advanced Studies on Applied Economics (CEPEA); and Khaled Hanafy, secretary-general at the Union of Arab Chambers.<\/p>\n

Click here to watch the full show<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arab Chamber president Rubens Hannun said that investments in production autonomy in the Arab countries have been frozen due to coronavirus. He talked at the Agro 360 show on the Terra Viva channel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2305,"featured_media":272970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[9906,15307,15269,15308,15298,9534,15309,15297,13474,14804,13802,15310,9840,12314,9672,10584,15270],"class_list":{"0":"post-272975","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-agribusiness-en","9":"tag-agriculture-and-livestock-parliamentary-front","10":"tag-agro-360-en","11":"tag-alceu-moreira-en","12":"tag-alceu-moreira","13":"tag-brazil-en","14":"tag-celso-moretti-en","15":"tag-celso-moretti","16":"tag-embrapa-en","17":"tag-khaled-hanafy-en","18":"tag-lorival-luz-en","19":"tag-marcos-jank-en","20":"tag-ricardo-santin-en","21":"tag-rubens-hannun-en-2","22":"tag-rubens-hannun-en","23":"tag-tereza-cristina-en","24":"tag-terra-viva-en"},"wps_subtitle":"Arab Chamber president Rubens Hannun said that investments in production autonomy in the Arab countries have been frozen due to coronavirus. He talked at the Agro 360 show on the Terra Viva channel.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}