What does Brazil import from Africa?

The fact that Brazil imports products from China, the United States, and Argentina is no surprise to anyone. But what about Africa? Does the continent sell any goods to the Brazilian market? Yes. Africans are suppliers of essential products to the South American country, including fundamental goods such as fertilizers and oil.

In the first half of 2022, Brazil bought 5.2 million tonnes of African products, worth about USD 3.8 billion. Africa accounted for 3% of Brazil’s imports in the period in terms of revenue and 6.1% in volume. The progress over the same period last year was 51% in revenue but only 3.2% in volume.

“There was no major change in appetite for the products; they are very much mirrored in what has been around for some time,” João Bosco Monte, president of the Brazil-Africa Institute (IBRAF), told ANBA. The expressive growth in revenue was mainly due to spiking commodity prices in the global market.

The product Brazil purchases most from Africa is fertilizers. Fertilizers accounted for over half of everything the country buys from the continent, with USD 2 billion and 2.8 million tonnes in the year’s first half. The second product on the list is oil, with USD 977,500 and 1.4 million tonnes.

“Urea had a sizeable contribution,” said Monte about the trade basket, explaining this supply has Nigeria as one of the primary sources. The African country went from exporting 226,000 tonnes of fertilizers to Brazil in the first six months of 2021 to 606,00 tonnes in the same months of this year, from USD 71.8 million to USD 447 million.

See below the track record of Brazilian imports of urea (custom code HS 3102) from Algeria, Nigeria, Oman, and Russia. The data below is from DataLiner.

Urea imports into Brazil from key destinations | Jan 2019 – Jun 2022 | WTMT

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Apart from fertilizers and oil, the remaining USD 825 million in revenue and 942,000 tonnes in the trade comprise a diverse list. Pearls, stones, and metals; chemicals; aluminum and byproducts; salt, sulfur, sand, rocks, gypsum, lime, and cement; nuclear reactors; ores; cocoa and preparations; iron; fruit, rubber, and byproducts; machinery and equipment; fish and crustaceans; glass and byproducts; and other goods had totaled under USD 10 million in the year’s first semester.

The president of the IBRAF said the amount Brazil imports from Africa is still small compared to the total. “But it makes a big difference when a country the size of Brazil presents itself as a client of a small country like Togo, Benin, or Cape Verde,” he said. Monte mentioned as an example the sales of tuna from Cape Verde to the Brazilian market. “It represents a lot for Cape Verde,” he said. African nations sold 16,200 tonnes of fish to Brazil in the year’s first half.

Untapped potential

João Bosco Monte believes shipments of African products to Brazil could be much higher. He thinks more trade promotion is needed on behalf of Africa in the Brazilian market, and Brazil could have more financing lines for imports from the continent. “I understand mea culpa has to be made by both sides,” he said.

Don’t Brazilians know about development or the products Africa produces? “Our perception, our almost evangelizing work is to make people understand on the other side of the Atlantic there is a huge potential for opportunities, including for trade,” said Monte.

The institute’s president cites the farms producing maize, milk, cattle, and beef and the production of nitrogen in South Africa, technology parks in Rwanda, Kenya’s mobile network system, the distribution grid in Egypt’s Suez Canal, Egyptian cement production in Alexandria, cashew processing in Ghana, the prospect of vaccine production on the continent, Ethiopian Airlines aviation training expertise in Ethiopia, among others.

Currently, the leading African suppliers to Brazil are the continent’s oil and fertilizer producers. Morocco, a major producer of fertilizers, is first on the list, followed by Nigeria, which produces fertilizers and oil. Also in the top ten African suppliers are South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Congo, Angola, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Togo. Monte sees importing products such as oil and fertilizers as crucial for creating regularity in trade and transport and encouraging exchanges in other areas.

See below the track record of the shipments from Algeria, Egypt, and South Africa, in terms of volume, from January 2021 to June 2022. The data is from DataLiner.

Brazil imports from Algeria, Egypt, and South Africa | Jan 2021 – Jun 2022 | WTMT

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

But how about the ships?

The IBRAF president believes for this trade to grow, a greater flow of maritime transport between Africa and Brazil is needed. “There are no frequent and regular routes,” he said. In trade between the two regions, goods typically need to go through Europe to reach their final destination, making products more expensive and the shipping time longer.

Over the past few years, Brazilian imports of African products fluctuated but remained between 12 million and 22 million tonnes from 2011 to 2021. The highest sales peak was in 2013, with 22.4 million tonnes shipped, and the lowest volume was in 2020, with 10.8 million tonnes.

Monte sees benefits in a closer relationship between Brazil and Africa due to the formation of the continent’s free trade area and the prospects for growth in the region, with many countries growing above the world average. “Africa in 2022 has 1.4 billion people, and in 2050, less than three decades from now, it could reach two billion people,” he said.

Source: Anba

To read the full original article, please go to: https://anba.com.br/en/what-brazil-imports-from-africa/

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