July the best month so far this year in sales to Arab world
Exports from Brazil came out to USD 1.1 billion, the highest monthly result to date this year. Sales increased month-on-month for sugar, iron ore, beef and poultry.
July saw the best monthly results of 2020 in exports from Brazil to the Arab countries. Sales fetched USD 1.1 billion, up 30.8% from June, as per numbers compiled by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC). The good result came in connection with the normalization of Brazilian-Arab shipping logistics, post-Ramadan stockpile-building, and the gradual resumption of activity in Arab countries.
“More than anything else, shipping routes are getting going again, and container traffic is coming back, ABCC secretary-general and CEO Tamer Mansour told ANBA. The pandemic had an impact on container-based exports from Brazil to the Arab world, as shipping containers got held up in China, and therefore became scarce in Brazil.
Mansour: Logistics is normalizing
Mansour also believes that the Arab markets are rebuilding inventory in the wake of Ramadan, which ran from late April to late May this year. Ramadan is the time of year when Muslims go on a fast during daytime and then get together and feast once the sun sets. Arab countries will usually stock up on food leading up to it. “You had your stockpiles up until Ramadan, and now it’s running out,” says Mansour.
The ABCC’s secretary-general explains that demand is usually slow-going in Arab countries in July, a time of vacations and hot weather. “These people wouldn’t normally be in the Arab countries. They’d be vacationing elsewhere, but since this is an atypical year, people are stuck at home, and so the demand starts to come up,” he says.
Moreover, the hike in exports of products such as iron ore indicates that markets are picking up across the region. “It shows that life, in terms of civil construction and industry, is going back to normal,” says Mansour. Iron ore is a raw material for making steel, which in turn is an input for making cars and civil construction equipment such as concrete, pipes, screws, beams, etc.
Iron ore exports from Brazil to Arab countries climbed 117% to USD 177.5 million in July from June. Aside from ore, exports were driven by sugar, up 30.6% to USD 336.6 million, poultry, up 13% to USD 149.8 million, and beef, up 2.3% to USD 102.6 million.
Year-on-year in July, exports from Brazil to the Arab countries were down 6% – exports decreased year-on-year in every month of 2020. Month-on-month exports went up in March and May. Year-to-date through July, sales came out to USD 6.2 billion, 12.2% year-on-year.
Source: ANBA
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