S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Ornamental plant farmers in the state of Cear\u00e1 are preparing to compete in the foreign market. The Flower Farming Production Chain Sector Chamber, linked to the government of the state, established an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply with the objective of bringing farmers interested in foreign sales together in a consortium and providing them with export-oriented training.<\/p>\n
Cear\u00e1 already ranks second on the list of flower and ornamental plant exports in Brazil, after the state of S\u00e3o Paulo alone, and is the first in the ranking of exports of roses, but according to the Sector Chamber\u2019s chairman, Gilson Gondim, out of 200-plus farmers in the state, less than 10 operate in the foreign market. \u201cOnly a few larger companies do export,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He stated that despite being very strong in the agricultural sector, Brazil retains a small share of international flower trade. According to Gondim, last year, the ornamental plants sector generated a worldwide turnover of approximately US$ 15 billion, whereas Brazilian exports totalled only US$ 37 million, of which Cear\u00e1 accounted for US$ 5 million.<\/p>\n
Just to give an idea, he said that much smaller Latin American countries, such as Costa Rica and Ecuador, exported the equivalent of US$ 250 million and US$ 400 million, respectively, in 2008.<\/p>\n
By means of the project promoted in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, the aim is to increase the number of exporters in the state starting in February. The agreement provides for consultancy services to be supplied to farmers, so as to train them to export, and for the establishing of the consortium, which will lead to increased production scale. Despite the low foreign sales, the sector generates considerable domestic market revenues, at around US$ 3 billion per year.<\/p>\n
The consortium, according to Gondim, is also going to seek new markets. Currently, Brazil basically exports plants to the Netherlands and the United States. The intention is to develop markets such as Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom. \u201cThe UK is now the market that grows the most in the sector,\u201d stated the executive.<\/p>\n
The Netherlands, which receives roughly 60% of Brazilian exports, is a traditional re-export hub for flowers, and supplies to a large portion of Europe and other destinations around the world. Through the project, farmers from Cear\u00e1 intend to avoid middlemen and seek final destination markets directly.<\/p>\n
According to Gondim, a market in which the sector intends to invest in the future is the Middle East\u2019s. \u201cWe have got much affinity with the Middle Eastern countries,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n
He added that the state of Cear\u00e1 has a series of differentials that ensure its competitiveness. The first one is sunshine all year round. \u201cThe sun is what makes a plant grow, and we have it as our ally,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n
Besides, the executive underscored that Cear\u00e1 has daily direct flights to the United States and Europe, plus the Port of Pec\u00e9m, which counts on a cold box for plant storage. Gondim also claimed that the production cost for plants is low in all of the Northeast Region.<\/p>\n
Through promotion actions, he believes that it is possible to add another US$ 1.5 million to exports in Cear\u00e1 as early as 2010, and attain a twofold increase in revenues within five years.<\/p>\n
Contact <\/b><\/p>\n
E-mail: brazilplant@hotmail.com<\/p>\n
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By means of an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture, the state is going to provide foreign trade training to small farmers. Presently, there are less than 10 exporting companies in Cear\u00e1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1454,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-agribusiness"},"wps_subtitle":"By means of an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture, the state is going to provide foreign trade training to small farmers. Presently, there are less than 10 exporting companies in Cear\u00e1.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33267","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\/1454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}