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<\/a>The project involves 32 farming cooperatives in Rio Grande do Sul. The state\u2019s wheat output is twice as much as its consumption needs. That\u2019s where sporadic foreign sales come in. \u201cThe project is intended to increase exports. Rio Grande do Sul has been exporting wheat since 2003. Over these 17 years, product has been exported, including to Arab countries, so this is nothing new. We are just working towards specialization,\u201d explained \u00cdndio Brasil, a managing partner with brokerage firm Solo Corretora in Rio Grande do Sul.<\/p>\n
The firm lends commercial support to the process, \u201cwhich is still at an embryonic stage,\u201d explains Brasil. End-of-the-chain sales are made by exporting companies. According to him, what Brazilian consumers regard as a disadvantage can be an advantage elsewhere. \u201cAll wheat production in Brazil is geared towards the domestic market\u2019s concept of quality. But within each country there are cultural issues and quality requirements that do not necessarily relate to nutritional aspects, but rather to visual and organoleptic ones,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Even though exportation isn\u2019t a recent phenomenon, becoming a solid exporter is an achievement that\u2019s yet to come. \u201cThe Arabs probably do not recognize us as players, because we are not predictable,\u201d says Paulo Pires. And that is not without reason. Fecoagro<\/a> figures show that 56,000 tons got shipped to Saudi Arabia through May 2020. The previous sale had taken place three years earlier, in 2017, with Saudi Arabia importing 62,000 tons of product. Another key importer, Egypt, got its last shipment in 2013, at 66,000 tons.<\/p>\n All interviewees agree that professionalization is needed to join the international competition. \u201cWe have created this export project in order to become competitive. We even have the African market, or Asia, which appreciate Rio Grande do Sul wheat,\u201d says Paulo Pires. The project is primarily focused on Southeast Asia and the Middle East.<\/p>\n From farm to foreign land<\/strong><\/p>\n The project was designed to encourage farmers who had been moving away from wheat farming. \u201cThe farmed area for wheat was diminishing. To us, that was a clear message that they were not happy. We decided to try an alternative project to increase that area,\u201d Paulo Pires explained, adding that farmed area was 21% bigger for this crop. This was due among other things to the stronger US dollar, which drove up the price of imported product.<\/p>\n Aside from total grain protein content, international market requirements include the so-called \u2018gluten strength,\u2019 which applies to Basic and Domestic wheat classes. Embrapa selected the varieties that meet international requirements without driving up costs. \u201cWe have cultivars that can easily yield export-type wheat,\u201d Jo\u00e3o Leonardo Pires said.<\/p>\n Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Trigo-Cr\u00e9dito-FecoAgro-RS-Divulga\u00e7\u00e3o-1-300x225.jpg\")
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