Agro posts a record trade balance in 2020

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The trade balance for Brazilian agribusiness reached a record surplus from January to October this year, with a balance of US$ 75.5 billion.

Agro posts a record trade balance in 2020

Brasilia (Nov. 19, 2020) – The trade balance for Brazilian agribusiness reached a record surplus from January to October this year, with a balance of US$ 75.5 billion.

Exports saw revenues of US$ 85.8 billion, a 5.7% jump compared to the same period in 2019, with a shipment volume of 189.4 million tons, representing an increase of 12.4%. The analysis is performed by the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA) and is based on data from the Ministry of Finance’s Secretariat of Foreign Trade.

The top-selling products in 2020 were soybeans (US$ 28 billion), fresh beef (US$ 6.1 billion), raw cane sugar (US$ 6 billion), pulp (US$ 5 billion) and soybean meal (US$ 5 billion). These products accounted for 58.3% of the export basket of Brazilian agribusiness in the first ten months.

China remains as the main destination of exports, with a share of 35.8%. The European Union (16.2%), United States (6.5%), Japan (2.4%) and South Korea (2.1%) complete the ranking of the top five markets in the period from January to October.

Exports last October fell by 6.2% compared to the same month in 2019, with total revenue of US$ 8.2 billion and a surplus of US$ 7 billion. The total shipped was 18.1 million tons, down 3.2%. The leading exported product was raw cane sugar (US$ 1.1 billion in value) and China was also the primary buyer of agro products (26.5% of the total).

Dairy – Dairy products were prominent among the products analyzed within the Agro BR Project, an initiative carried out in partnership with Apex Brasil to promote small and medium-sized producers for international trade. Exports stood at US$ 8.5 million in October 2020, 87.5% higher than in the same period last year, largely due to the growth in sales of modified and condensed milk.

Accrued from January to October, there was a 30% bump in revenue (US$ 61.6 million) and 30.6% in volume (26.8 thousand tons), driven by exports of modified milk, powdered milk and sour cream.

Apiculture by-products – The apiculture sector (honey, beeswax, propolis, etc.) posted an increase of 34.7% in exports in value and a 58.6% growth in volume over the first ten months of the year in comparison with the same period of 2019. This variance was driven by a US$ 22 million boost in honey sales. The principal destinations were the United States and the European Union, with respective purchases of US$ 57.1 million and US$ 15.4 million.

See the full trade balance document here (in Portuguese).

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CNA promotes a business roundtable on the Agro.Br project in November

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CNA is holding a virtual business roundtable for the Agro.Br project on November 3-6

CNA promotes a business roundtable on the Agro.Br project in November

Brasilia (Sep. 29, 2020) – The Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil (CNA) is holding a virtual business roundtable for the Agro.Br project on November 3-6 with the aim of creating business opportunities between Brazilian rural entrepreneurs and export companies. To participate, fill out the enrollment form by October 7.

The virtual meetings will be arranged by CNA, in partnership with the Brazilian Council of Import and Export Trade Companies (CECIEx) and with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).

All of the rural entrepreneurs who enroll by the deadline will be analyzed and will receive a score according to the methodology prescribed by the Confederation. Click here to read the rules.

A number of criteria will be considered, such as exports over the past three years and the offer of products that are compatible with the chains prioritized by the virtual round (honey and bee derivatives, seafood, specialty coffees, dairy products, fruits, flowers and vegetables, nuts, etc).

The producer selected and invited by CNA to participate in the virtual business roundtable that is not yet taking part in the Agro.BR project should sign up at www.cnabrasil.org.br/agrobr and complete and sign the agreement for participating in the project.

Agro.BR – The project is an agreement between CNA and Apex-Brasil focused on making Brazilian agribusiness more international. The initiative provides assistance to entrepreneurs in the sector by increasing the presence of small and medium producers in foreign trade while diversifying the Brazilian export list.

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CNA discusses opportunities for Brazilian dairy products in the Chinese market

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“This production reflects our demand for commercial partners, particularly China, which is a booming consumer market in both quality and quantity.”

CNA discusses opportunities for Brazilian dairy products in the Chinese market

Brasilia (Nov. 19, 2020) – According to assessments from experts during the “Chinese Dairy Market” webinar on Thursday (November 19), there is a huge potential for Brazil to boost their exports of powdered milk, cheeses, butter and numerous other dairy products to China. Trade opportunities in China were raised during the meeting.

Camila Sande, the coordinator of Exports for the Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock Confederation (CNA), presented an overview of production in Brazil and expectations for introducing dairy products into the Chinese market.

She discussed CNA’s representation and the creation of the Agro.BR project, an initiative aimed at raising the presence of mainly small and mid-sized Brazilian producers within the international market.

“We’re focused on the Chinese market. We’ve already established a relationship with China. The challenge for companies is to have their products penetrate the market, like dairy products, through trademark registration and appropriate distribution. It was really important to hear from them that we’re going to have solid partnerships in the country to accompany and support the promotion and entry of Brazilian dairy products into China,” she stated.

Camila also spoke about Brazilian milk production, which places the country as the 3rd highest producer in the world. She believes that production is expected to reach 47 billion liters by 2030. Milk production grew by 19.8% between 2009 and 2019 with the production of 34.4 billion liters.

“This production reflects our demand for commercial partners, particularly China, which is a booming consumer market in both quality and quantity.”

Event attendees included the minister-counselor and chief of the economic sector at the Brazilian Embassy in Beijing, João Batista do Nascimento Magalhães, the China Dairy Association’s director of international relations, Cheg Bing, Li Zhiping from the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center (FECC), the special advisor to the Minister of Agriculture and head of “Núcleo China no Mapa”, Larissa Wachholz, and the technical advisor of Viva Lácteos, Gustavo Beduschi.

“China is the largest importer of dairy products, but per capita consumption is still rather low. The average Chinese consumes 35 kg per year, and the country’s government expects this consumption to jump to at least 110 kg per year. This data illustrates the potential for Brazil within this sector,” explained the minister-counselor and head of the economic sector at the Brazilian Embassy in Beijing, João Batista do Nascimento Magalhães.

Li Zhiping from the FECC described the structure of the entity, which promotes China’s interactions with different countries and focuses on multilateral relations and international cooperation. She added that the virtual meeting served as a way for Chinese businessmen to better understand the Brazilian dairy market and take advantage of opportunities in that market.

“My hope is that opportunities will be explored to improve the quality and effectiveness of the collaboration while strengthening partnerships, the level of cooperation and the promotion of projects that are beneficial to both countries.”

Chen Bing from the China Dairy Association (China Dairy Association) provided an overview of the country’s dairy industry, including trends and opportunities for Brazilian dairy products.
He went on to state that there are 3.9 million tons of dairy products produced in China and that the most common product is liquid milk. As of now, Chinese consumption is 34.7 kg per capita per year, representing one-third of the average global level.

“As such, there’s a lot of room for Brazilian products, mainly because demand has risen for butter and cheese. As of September this year, for example, China imported only 50 kg from Brazil. China is expected to become the largest global consumer of dairy in 2022, surpassing the United States.”

CNA’s Export Coordinator, Camila Sande, spoke about the office that the Confederation has in Shanghai in partnership with the “Agência Paulista de Promoção de Investimentos e Competitividade“ (the São Paulo Agency for the Promotion of Investments and Competitiveness, or InvestSP), created to support Brazilian entrepreneurs who wish to export to China. She stated that Agro.BR negotiations and business missions targeted towards the dairy market in China are scheduled for 2021.

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CNA and Invest SP analyze the Chinese market for Brazilian coffee

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“We are the largest producers and exporters of green and instant coffee in the world. For every 10 cups consumed, 3.8 come from Brazil.”

CNA and Invest SP analyze the Chinese market for Brazilian coffee

Brasilia (Oct. 20, 2020) – The Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA) and representatives from Invest SP in China met on October 20th in an online forum to analyze the Chinese market for Brazilian coffee.

Camila Sande, the Export coordinator for CNA, led the discussions and talked about the study prepared in a partnership by the two entities. The analyses illustrate general characteristics regarding the size of the Chinese coffee market, the primary countries that supply the bean and opportunities for Brazilian producers to become involved in the market.

“China is a challenging market. Getting agricultural products onto the shelves of the Asian country requires a lot of analysis, planning and solid partnerships. The whole idea of the study is to show an overview of this market to the members of the Agro.Br Project,” Sande stated.

The Agro.Br project is an agreement between CNA and Apex-Brasil focused on making Brazilian agribusiness more international. The initiative provides assistance to entrepreneurs in the sector by increasing the presence of small and medium producers in foreign trade while diversifying the Brazilian export list.

During the online meeting, Fernando Velloso – a Market Intelligence analyst at Invest SP in China – stated that, by the end of 2020, the Asian country will be one of the few economies to post a growth. “The Chinese economy is in full swing. From July to September, it grew by almost 5% more than in the same period of 2019. Even under the context of the pandemic, the import and export levels are higher than last year.”

Velloso also described the key results of the study by CNA and Invest SP, such as field research in Shanghai supermarkets and wholesalers. “We gathered information from 300 coffee labels in traditional sales channels and e-commerce. Nearly half of the products were powdered, soluble or instant, and the vast majority was the ‘two in one’ type of coffee with milk.”

The analyst noted that the survey indicated widespread popularity of dissolvable and instant coffee powder among consumers because of how easy it is to prepare and because there are many hot water supply points in China due to the custom of consuming tea.

“Instant coffee is the primary type of product consumed by the Chinese. But there are a number of challenges to entering this market because consumption per capita is still quite low. The Chinese drink 4-5 cups on average per year. Compared with Japan, which consumes about 300 cups per year, the Chinese market also represents a great growth potential” Fernando Velloso stated.
CNA’s technical advisor, Raquel Miranda, was also invited to the debate and spoke about Brazil’s potential in coffee farming. “We are the largest producers and exporters of green and instant coffee in the world. For every 10 cups consumed, 3.8 come from Brazil.”

She believes that instant coffee is the gateway to burgeoning coffee markets like China due to the ease of preparation. “Brazil has enough to supply any market. But producers have to work hard to make sure that the bean quality from the harvest to post-harvest is maintained to assure equal taste and visual characteristics.”

During her presentation, the CNA representative expounded on the importance of Technical and Managerial Assistance (AT&G) offered by the National Rural Learning Service (Senar) to train coffee farmers and help them improve the standards of quality for agricultural products.

“We need to clearly state the value of small producers to our mature and new markets. 80% of the producers in Brazilian coffee farming are small scale with less than 50 hectares of area.” When it comes to the Chinese market, Raquel believes that the challenge lies in providing suitable and quality products along with effective marketing.

Harvest Coffee – CNA released the Harvest Coffee (Safra Cafeeira) survey to gather information on the 2020-2021 harvest and invites farmers to participate. The questionnaire will be available until December 19th, and the results will be announced in early 2021. Click here to read the study on the Chinese market for coffee (in Portuguese).

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CNA discusses the importance of introducing small and mid-sized producers into the international market

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"The focus of the Agro.BR Program is to include small and mid-sized producers in foreign trade"

CNA discusses the importance of introducing small and mid-sized producers into the international market

Brasilia (Oct. 16, 2020) – Lígia Dutra, the superintendent of International Relations at the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA) stressed the importance of Brazil investing in having small and mid-sized rural producers inserted into the international market, pointing out that they are representative in the production of fruits, fish, dairy products, honey, specialty coffees, flowers and vegetables – all priority chains for agribusiness abroad.

Lígia took part in a panel on October 16 titled “Food security and a generation without hunger” at the World Food Day, promoted by the Food Tech Hub Br – Alimentos para a Vida (Food For Life), an institution focused on creating the best food innovation ecosystems in the world.

The focus of the Agro.BR Program is to include small and mid-sized producers in foreign trade, a CNA initiative in partnership with Apex Brasil to increase the number of Brazilian rural entrepreneurs participating in the global market while preparing them to capture new consumers and diversifying the list of products exported by Brazil.

“These chains are going to have an economic impact and a growth for agribusiness, in addition to the positive social impact that comes from introducing small and mid-sized producers into the export chain,” he stated

The superintendent pointed out that this growth involves improvements in the production costs for the sector and in other aspects such as adding value to products from the agricultural sector and for cooperatives and associations.

“We understand that there has to be scale or distinction in exports. This is why we need to invest in adding value and also take a look at Asia, which is a significant market for Brazilian agribusiness.”

Lígia emphasized that, while Brazil has already carried out a number of measures aimed at adding value in the processing sector and in primary production, this is still a huge challenge for the country.

“Adding value takes place within numerous perspectives, and we need to look at all of them. One of the key requirements for Brazil is to invest in services in order to boost logistics and information technology in this sector, which are essential for agriculture. Investing in this sector is an investment in added value for agro.”

Also taking part in the debate were Fernando Camargo, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Secretary of Innovation, Rodrigo Santos, Head of Crop Science Latam at Bayer, Marina Grossi, president of the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) and Daniel Balaban, director of the World Food Program in Brazil’s Center of Excellence Against Hunger.

All participants identified science and technology as essential factors for the growth of the Brazilian agricultural sector and, through public-private partnerships, this could contribute to reducing hunger in Brazil and the rest of the world.

“The price of food is paramount in reducing hunger and inequality. So we need technologies that help maintain affordable prices and boost incomes for small and mid-sized producers. By doing this, we’ll achieve a rather significant economic impact in Brazil,” Lígia Dutra concluded.

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