Variety and
year-round
supply benefit
Brazilian fruit
shipments
The fruit sector in Brazil exported more
fresh fruit and derivatives in 2017, and hopes
to achieve even better results over the com-
ing years. Total shipments amounted to US$
946.792 million and 878.400 thousand tons,
representing increases of 11.2% and 7.83%,
according to data from the Agrostat Sys-
tem, of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock
and Food Supply (Mapa). Excluding nuts and
chestnuts, the shipment of 23 fruit and other
items amounted to revenue of US$ 812.846
million and 861.501 thousand tons, with re-
spectiveincreasesofUS$110.458millionand
71.611 thousand tons, compared to2016.
The bigger exports, besides meeting the
expectationsofthesector,alsoconfirmedthe
efforts of the entire supply chain in turning
Brazil into a protagonist in the international
fruit trade, says Eduardo Brandão, technical
advisor to theBrazilianConfederationof Ag-
riculture and Livestock (CNA). “Fruit farmers
have set a target for US$ 1 billion in exports
of fresh, semi-processedandprocessed fruit
and derivatives, by 2020”, he says. The tar-
get is considered in the hope that no new
trade barriers to Brazilian fruit exports sur-
face around theworld.
The fact is, fruit exportsarestill lagging far
behind exports of other food supply chains,
likemeat,orangejuice,sugarandcoffee,con-
sidering that Brazil is the third biggest fruit
producer in the world, coming only after In-
dia and China. Brandão recalls that support
by CNA to national fruit farming resulted in
the creation of the Brazilian Fruit Growers
and Exporters Association (Abrafrutas), em
2014. One of the main objectives of the enti-
ty consists in increasing the share of Brazilian
fruit in the internationalmarket.
According to Brandão, Brazilian fruit ex-
ports take advantage of diversity, quality
and year-round availability. “The first items
on the export list give us a competitive ad-
vantage,especiallyasfarasvarietyandyear-
round supply go, due to the edaphoclimat-
ic conditions for production”, he stresses.
Furthermore, the strategic vision of the sec-
tor has evolved a lot with support from the
Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion
Agency (Apex-Brasil), through the sectoral
project involving Abrafrutas and the agency.
The promotional initiatives by Abrafru-
tas in fairs have also contributed a lot,
through its attempts to boost sales in exist-
ing markets whilst finding the way into new
ones, with support from the Mapa and CNA.
“When it comes to entering a new market,
the first steps consist in contacts from gov-
ernment togovernment, whilst political and
phytosanitary questions are challenges that
need to be surmounted to ship fresh fruit
fromone country to another”, he explains.
Sílvio Ávila
28
Bearing
fruit
Exports of fresh, semi-processed and
processed fruitwere up 11.2% in volume
and 7.83% inrevenue in 2017
