Commodity Shuttle: Africa is the fastest growing in Brazilian agribusiness imports

Africa does not represent much for Brazilian agribusiness when compared to Asia, but it is the region that has been growing the most in terms of commercial relations with Brazil in this sector.

In the first three months of this year, African countries increased their purchases in Brazil by 64%, compared to the same period last year. Asians rose by 40%.

In addition to increasing imports, Africa diversifies trade with Brazil. Five products —sugar, soy, wheat, corn and meats— represent 87% of this trade relationship.

This list advances, however, to rice, beans, corn flour and peanuts. Of the 54 countries on the continent, 38 import Brazilian agribusiness products, including animal genetics and agricultural machinery and equipment, according to data from Secex (Secretariat of Foreign Trade).

Egypt is one of the main partners. Imports from the country totaled US$ 564 million in this first quarter, 116% more than in the same previous period.

The purchase list for the Egyptians is very diverse, ranging from live animals, meat, cereals, soy to sugar.

This year, trade between Brazil and Africa was increased by wheat. In the first three months of 2021, Africans had imported just 45,000 tonnes of cereal from Brazilians. This year, there are already 696 thousand. Morocco, South Africa, Sudan and Egypt are coming to Brazil to get wheat.

Rice and beans are also on the list of African imports. Senegal and Gambia were the main ones in the purchase of cereal, and Egypt and Angola, in the legume.

In comparison with Brazil’s total exports, Africa is still far from the main blocks. Africans imported the equivalent of US$ 2.3 billion from January to March, well below Asian leaders, who left US$ 17.1 billion of foreign exchange in the country.

In assessing Brazil’s trade relations by economic bloc, attention is drawn to the low evolution of Brazilian trade with Mercosur and South America. Growth was less than 30%, the lowest among all economic blocs.

In the first three months of this year, compared to 2021, Brazilian agribusiness trade rose 53% with Europe, 44% with North America and 44% with the Middle East.

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