12/29/2008 10h23
Arabian market is alternative for exportation
Gazeta Mercantil 12/29/2008
At the same time that the main economies of the world are contaminated by the international financial crisis, the Arabian market appears as a kind of safe port for Brazilian exporters. "This is a worldwide crisis and it will have effects all over the world, but the Arabian countries have large reserves, a great availability of resources, and that increases their chances of going through the crisis with less suffering", affirms Antonio Sarkis Junior, President of the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB, in Portuguese), representative of the League of Arab States, which gathers 22 independent countries where the Arabic is the official language. According to data of the CCAB, between January and November the exports to the Arabian world, US$ 8.91 billion, were 39.6% higher than those of the same period of 2007. As for the foreign purchases, 80% of them were oil-based and amounted to US$ 9.96 billion, 75.4% greater than those of the same period of 2007. Compared to November/2007, foreign sales for this market increased 51.5%, with prominence for meats (46% of increase), ore (+160%), road machinery (+47%), and corn (+400%). "The combination of the Brazilian agribusiness with Arabian countries has already worked out", evaluated Sarkis, from the CCAB, saying that the Country is already a traditional supplier of beef and chicken to that market. In the ranking of the ten biggest clients of the beef industry, three of them (Algeria, Israel, and Saudi Arabia) are Arabian, according to data of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC, in Portuguese). A study of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) in 12 countries of the region shows the food industry has great growth potential in the Arabian market. According to the survey, the selected markets absorbed 4% (US$ 29.8 billion) of the food and beverage exported by the world in 2007. From that total, US$ 4.7 billion were bought from Brazil. The study detected good opportunities in the segments of juices (orange, pineapple, apple, and so on), coffee, fruit, dairy products, teas and candies and sweets. Alessandro Teixeira, president of the Apex, affirmed that studies like that are only feasible nowadays because the entity has a business center in the region. Teixeira says the Apex has increased its actions in the Arabian market and the intention is to strengthen its presence in the region in 2009. Among the actions foreseen are commercial missions to Iran and Egypt and at least six different actions in the United Arab Emirates, without including the efforts made with the entities of the sector.
