SÃO PAULO: Rice exports from Brazil to Saudi Arabia increased 6% from January to April 2016 from the comparable year-ago period. Data from the Brazilian Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services compiled by the Brazilian Rice Industry Association (Abiarroz) and the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce shows that in the first four months of this year, the country shipped USD 1.83 million worth of rice to the Arab country. From January to April 2015, it had shipped USD 1.73 million. Volume shipped was up 20.7% from 2,990 tons through April 2015 to 3,610 tons through April of this year.
Abiarroz and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) have partnered up for the Brazilian Rice overseas promotion project. Project manager Gustavo Ludwig told ANBA that rice exports to Saudi Arabia are going up as a result of Brazilian Rice’s promotional actions, such as going to Dubai’s food industry expo Gulfood for the last four years.
“Prior to 2012, exports to Saudi Arabia were nil, we did not business at all with them. In 2012 we began taking companies to Gulfood and having business matchmaking sessions. Since then, the orders started coming in. This growth in sales is a result of the project, because all of the exports were made by companies affiliated with Brazilian Rice,” he said.
Ludwig said sales to Arab countries will likely keep growing in the next few years because the region holds great promise, especially in Saudi Arabia, a market that’s deemed a priority for Abiarroz’s and Apex-Brasil’s project. Priority markets are the primary targets of promotional actions. Other Brazilian Rice target markets include the United States, Peru, Angola, South Africa and Panama.
“This year we should visit Foodex Saudi (a food industry fair in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) and look into going again next year, this time as exhibitors),” Ludwig said. In addition to Saudi Arabia, the Brazilian rice producers ship product to the UAE, Algeria, Oman and Jordan, but the amounts are still minor.
Total rice exports from Brazil reached USD 108.2 million through April, up 10.9% from a year ago. Volume shipped was up 50.9% to 331,400 tons. “These sales have grown as a consequence of the project’s actions, but also due to the price of the dollar, which reached BRL 4 early on in the year. Brazil is regarded more and more as a major global rice-producing country,” Ludwig asserted.
