February 19, 2020- Brazil posted a positive trade balance with Arab markets, the third largest destination of Brazilian exports, in January 2020. The latest figures released by the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) showed that trade balance reached USD 624.15 million, reflecting a growth of 51.82 per cent during the period as compared to the previous year.  

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE remained the top importers of Brazilian goods during the first month of the year. Brazil’s trade balance with Saudi Arabia amounted to USD 131.32 million, which represented 208.59 thousand tons of goods. The country’s trade balance with Egypt and the UAE were USD 111.16 million (471.85 thousand tons) and USD 92.26 million (40.33 thousand tons), respectively.

Rubens Hannun, President of Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, said: “The numbers proved once again the growing trade ties and unwavering confidence between the Arab region and Brazil. This trust was also clearly evident at a time when the Arab countries supported the demand and maintained their loyalty to their Brazilian partners.”

“We are eager to see both parties collaborating closely in the coming months to further strengthen and build more productive and mutually beneficial trade relations according to their respective growth agendas. The year 2020 started good and we expect the trend to further gain momentum,” Hannun added. 

Sugar, chicken meat, iron and coffee were the top exported products to the Arab countries during the first month of 2020. A separate report issued by the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé) showed that the volume of Brazilian coffee exported to the Arab states in January this year reached 121,700 60-kg bags, up 29.1 per cent from a year ago. The same report also stated that the revenue surged 20.17 per cent year-on-year to reach USD 13.7 million. Cecafé specifically cited the UAE’s imports of Brazilian coffee. The growth rate per year from 2013 to 2019 was at 6.2 per cent, with the Arab country buying 139,866 60-kg bags of Brazilian coffee in 2019 alone.

In 2019, the Arab world was announced to be the third largest destination of Brazilian exports after China and the United States. It was the fifth largest international buyer of Brazil goods, with imports reaching USD 11.4 billion in 2018. The region’s imports of Brazilian goods reached USD 12.1 billion in 2019, climbing by 6.3 per cent from a year before.