BRASILIA: Brazilian companies need to pay more attention to China and study the Chinese market, a Brazilian expert said recently about a report of the Brazil-China trade.
According to a report released on Tuesday by the Brazil-China Business Council, trade between Brazil and China, which amounted to US$28.1 billion in the January-May period of 2015, fell 19% compared to the same period in 2014.
About the situation, Carlos Abijaodi, development director of the National Confederation of Industries (CNI), said Brazilian businessmen should study the Chinese market with more attention and look for ways to get in.
“Brazil never cared to adopt an aggressive attitude toward the Chinese market,” Abijaodi told daily Folha de Sao Paulo.
“The Chinese government’s strategic planning is focused on stimulating the domestic market. With this, there will be openings for Brazilian companies to act,” he added.
According Tuesday’s report, Brazil’s exports to China fell 28% to US$13.7 billion in the January-May period, while imports from China fell 9% to US$14.4 billion.
The Brazil-China Business Council attributed the fall in the revenues from Brazilian exports to China to the nosediving prices of commodities, which made up the bulk of Brazil’s exports to the Asian country. Revenues from exports of soybeans and iron ore fell 31% and 57%, respectively.
The news is not all bad for Brazil. From 2004 to 2015, oil exports to China in the Jan-May period rose 260% to a record 5.4 million tonnes, and revenues from those exports rose 80% to US$1.76 billion.
The rise in oil exports might have mitigated the fall in total exports.
