Brazilian agribusiness exports hit record US$11.57 billion in March

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian agribusiness exports totaled US$11.57 billion in March, a record for the month that had never crossed the US$10 billion mark since records began in 1997, the Ministry of Agriculture said Friday, April 16, in a statement.

The result represents a 28.6% increase in relation to results obtained in the same period last year. According to the ministry, prices of exported products rose 8.7% compared to March 2020, while the volume shipped increased 18.3%.

Soybean products were most prominent, with advances of 18.9% in volume, to 14.8 million tons, and 38.2% in revenue, to US$6.01 billion. Oilseed grain shipments alone rose 24.3% and 43.1%, respectively, to 13.49 million tons and US$5.36 billion.

“The weather conditions of the 2020/2021 crop, which led to delays in the harvest of the first bimester of 2021 due to excessive rainfall, concentrated soybean shipments to March,” the statement said.

The ministry also highlighted the performance of the meat sector, which hit record exports, totaling US$1.60 billion, up 16.1% – considering fresh chicken, beef and pork proteins.

“The animal husbandry sector for meat production in China has a history of diseases in recent years, especially African Swine Fever and the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza, which devastated and affect the Chinese herds, being the main factor responsible for the expansion of Brazilian meat exports.”

The main meat exported was beef, with US$711 million in foreign sales (+11.9%) and a record volume of 158,000 tons (+7.8%). Pork shipments also hit a record, with a 51.2% increase in exported volume, reaching 108,000 tons equivalent to US$260 million (+57.4%).

The government also highlighted the foreign sales of sugar, whose volume reached a record of 1.97 million tons in March 2021 (+39.6%). The ministry said that this record volume, coupled with the 9% increase in the average price, resulted in US$638.96 million in exports (+52.1%).

Agribusiness imports also increased, rising from US$1.28 billion in March 2020 to US$1.34 billion last month, up 4.5%.

Source: Moneytimes