|
The foreign market is the main target of Brazilian organic product farmers. Of the sector's annual turnover of US$ 300 million, over US$ 200 million come from exports. This is still a very small share for Brazil of the market, which has a worldwide turnover of US$ 25 billion a year.
However, according to information supplied by the Brazilian Association of Producers and Processors of Organic Products (Brasilbio), in 2005 the area used for cultivation of organic products in the country grew around 20%, exceeding 450,000 hectares, and the increase should be the same this year. Figures supplied by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture show that in Brazil there are currently around 19,000 producers of foods free from pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The number of certifications issued by specialized companies that inspect those who trade organic products are growing daily. According to the Biodynamic Institute (IBD), the largest certifier in Brazil, the number of certified projects rose from 94 in 2000 to 404 in 2005. "Brazil is one of the main producers of organic soy and sugar, but the total produced is still very small. If production were five times larger there would still be demand," guaranteed the executive secretary of Brasilbio, Guto Mazzo. According to him, Europe, especially Germany, followed by the United States and Japan, are the main world producers or organic products. Among the products are coffee, cocoa, sugar, orange juice, crystallized and tropical fruits, cereals and livestock products. "In Germany, for example, of the total of vegetables, fruits and leguminous plants consumed, around 40% are organic," he explained. Companies Some Brazilian companies are already aware of this great demand for organic products on the world market. Native, certified to sell organic sugar since 1997, exports 80% of its monthly production of 25,000 tons. The brand belongs to Balbo group, which owns mills São Francisco and Santo Antônio, located in the city of Sertãozinho, in the interior of the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo. Of their annual production of 200,000 tons of organic sugar, just 3,000 are for the domestic market. Apart from sugar, Native also exports coffee, orange juice and chocolate drinks. The products are shipped to Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. "It is hard to estimate how much the growth may be. But we know that the demand for organic products is growing all around the world," stated Ângelo César Salata, an export analyst. Jasmine Alimentos, from the city of Curitiba, capital of the southern Brazilian state of Paraná, is also interested in growth in the organic food sector. With over 70 items in its portfolio, among its line of breakfast cereals, cookies and biscuits, soy and varied wholemeal cereals, the company already offers six items in the organic line: brown sugar, rice, flours, beans, soy and tea. "I see the organic market as a very promising market," revealed Daniela Khouri, the company marketing manager. Sales are pulverized all around Brazil and have already reached some countries in Latin America, like Venezuela, Chile, Paraguay and the whole of Central America. According to Daniela, Jasmine is optimistic about the sector it operates in, as sales of healthy foods have been growing 30% a year. In 2006, the target is to expand revenues by 20%. To the marketing manager of Jasmine, educational campaigns are the best way of making people aware of the need for consumption of organic products. "Tax breaks for production and trade of these products would be an ideal instrument for the sector to grow more rapidly," stated Daniela. Contacts8/strong2 Native
Telephone: (+55 16) 3946-7000
Site: www.nativealimentgs.com.br Jasmine
Telephone: (+55 41) 2106-7871
Site: 0/font>www.jasminealimentos.com.br 4strong>Anba - 4/font>www.anba.com.br8/font>
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
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.