|
 In April, Brazil posted revenues of US$ 26.1 million from exports of soybean to the Arab countries. The in the first four months of the year was US$ 50 million . During the same periods of last year, the country had not sold the product to the countries in the League of Arab States, according to data culled from the electronic system of the Foreign Trade Secretariat at the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.
According to the economist at the Agricultural Federation of the State of Paraná (Faep), Gilda M. Bozza, the trend reflects the taking over of a market share left by Argentina in the Arab market.
"The leading suppliers to the market were Argentina and the United States, and Argentina had a failed crop (as a result of a historic drought)," says Gilda. As for the United States, according to the economist, the Arabs themselves sought alternate suppliers.
The soy crop in Argentina, which, similar to the Mid-South region of Brazil, is harvested from February to April, should amount to 31 million tons this year. Last year, the Argentineans harvested 43 million tons.
Paraná was the leading Brazilian soybean exporting state to the countries in the League of Arab States in April and also in the first four months of the year. Out of the US$ 50 million in revenues from soy sales to the region from January to April, Paraná accounted for US$ 30 million. Of the US$ 26 million recorded in April, US$ 21.1 million were exported by the state of Paraná.
Paraná posted total revenues of US$ 629 million from soybean exports in the first four months of the year, growth of 26% over the US$ 497 million sold in the same period of 2008. The increase in volume was even greater, at 38%, due to the fact that there was a reduction in price.
The state exported 1.7 million tons from January to April this year, as against 1.2 million during the same period of 2008, according to information supplied by the Faep.
In addition to Paraná, the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Goiás have also exported soybean to the Arab countries. According to data provided by the National Food Supply Company (Conab), Mato Grosso, Goiás and Paraná were the states that increased their planted area for soy this year.
In total, Brazil planted 21.65 million hectares of soy, an area 1.6% larger than in the previous crop, and the three states mentioned above were the ones that contributed the most.
The Arab nations that bought Brazilian soy, from January to April, were Saudi Arabia, with US$ 20.5 million, Morocco, with US$ 18.3 million, Egypt, with US$ 11 million, and Lebanon, with US$ 315. In April, the countries that purchased from Brazil were Saudi Arabia, with US$ 14.9 million, and Egypt, with US$ 11.1 million.
Anba
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.