As principais
MAINVEGETABLES
DEPENDENCE
Brazil’s garlic crop is not big enough to meet the needs of the domestic market. Over the past decades, national consumption progressed on a par
with the economic growth and has been stable for two years, with an average of 1.4 kilos of garlic per person a year. Anapa Honorary Director mentions
that apparent consumption reached 287,134 thousand tons in 2015. Imports totaled 161,7 thousand tons, fromdata furnished by the Secretariat of For-
eign Trade (Secex) of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC). The amounts fromChina corresponded to 34% of consumption,
whilst Argentina supplied 18%. Garlic fromSpain represented 4%. “In 10 years, the average imported volume doubled”, says Lucini.
The arrival of Chinese garlic in Bra-
zil resulted into smaller areas devoted to
the crop in the Country, however, it en-
couraged the farmers to pursue higher
productivity rates. The national crop to-
taled 116.7 thousand tons in 2015, out-
stripping the 93.8 thousand ton crop of
the previous year, according to data re-
leased by the Systematic Agricultural Pro-
duction Survey (LSPA, in the Portuguese
acronym), of the Brazilian Institute of Ge-
ography and Statistics (IBGE).
Average productivity remained at 11
tons per hectare in 2015, outstripping
the 9.7 thousand ton average of the previ-
ous year. The planted area comprised 10.6
thousand hectares, very close to the aver-
age of 10.5 thousand hectares of the past
five years. For 2016, IBGE’s survey points
to a smaller crop in volume (-23.35%),
area (-18.08%) and productivity (-6.43%).
This vegetable once occupied 18 thou-
sand hectares, back in 1993. However, the
planted area began to shrink when imports
of garlic from China started. The competi-
tion of the Asian crop caused reductions in
the planted area, but equally worked as a
stimulus for the Brazilian farmers to dou-
ble or even triple the productivity rates,
says agronomic engineer Marco Antônio
Lucini, Honorary Director of the Nation-
al Association of Garlic Producers (Anapa).
Average productivity rates in excess of 14
tons per hectare are obtained in the states
of Goiás and Minas Gerais.
According to IBGE sources, in 2015,
the leading garlic producing states were
as follows: Minas Gerais (36.02 thousand
tons), Goiás (33.24 thousand tons), San-
ta Catarina (19.01 thousand tons) and Rio
Grande do Sul (15.97 thousand tons). If
the harvested area is taken into consid-
eration, the position changes, with Goiás
cultivating an area of 2,228 hectares, small-
er than the area in Santa Catarina (2,262
hectares). The vegetable is grown in 6
thousand farms, according to Anapa sourc-
es. Currently, about 50% of all garlic har-
vested in Brazil comes from fields irrigated
through the center pivot system.
In Lucini’s view, the favorable climate,
with cold nights, was responsible for the
bigger crops in the Center-West and South-
east in 2015. Besides the higher FOB val-
ue of the Chinese garlic, as of July 2015,
the quality of the garlic produced in the
cerrado regions played a relevant role in
the higher prices fetched by the vegeta-
ble, compared to the previous crop. In the
second half of 2015, the vegetable fetched
from R$ 3 to R$ 6 above its grade, depend-
ing on the grading mesh, packaging and
preparation”, he notes.
In the South, garlic was planted from
May to July and harvest took place in No-
vember and December 2015. Lucini notes
that both quality and productivity failed
to match the 2014 crop, due to the mild
winter and rainy spring (phenomenon El
Niño very severe). Nonetheless, late plant-
ed garlic was of better quality, similar to
the 2014 crop. “This crop is to be traded
until July 2016, and the smaller productiv-
ity rates and medium quality will be com-
pensated in the form of better prices com-
pared to the previous year”, he explains.
About 50%of the total crop
comes from fields irrigated by
a center pivot system
31
Fonte:
LSPA/IBGE.
*Estimativa
Produção brasileira
TEMPERO PRÓPRIO
Homemade seasoning
Ano
2014
2015*
2016* 2015/16
Toneladas
93.826 116.764 89.503 - 23,35%
Hectares
9.670
10.591
8.676
-18,08%
Kg/ha
9.703
11.025 10.316
- 6,43%
Fonte:
LSPA/IBGE.
*Estimativa
Fonte:
MDIC/Aliceweb
– Elaboração:
Editora Gazeta.
importação
EXPOrtação
BALANÇA COMERCIAL DO ALHO
Garlic trade balance
Ano
2013
2014
2015
US$
223.490.238
174.201.139
179.009.580
Kg
179.264.732
169.035.608
163.557.974
Ano
2013
2014
2015
US$
33.591
43.095
178.130
Kg
12.451
12.580
61.641
