By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Although the growth of Brazil’s agricultural production should be lower in the coming years than in the past few seasons, expectations continue to be positive says a report released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Representatives from the two international agencies were in Brasilia on Wednesday for the release of the report, and were joined by Brazil’s Minister for Agrarian Development, Patrus Ananias, and the National Secretary for Agribusiness Development, Caio Rocha for the press conference.
According to the “Agricultural Perspectives: Challenges for the Brazilian Agriculture 2015-2024” the tendency of lower growth in agricultural production is due to the decrease of prices of the main commodities in the world in the international market and the slowdown in the Chinese economy. China is one of Brazil’s largest trading partners in agribusiness.
According to FAO in 2013 Brazilian agribusiness exports were responsible for 36 percent of the total global exports of agricultural products, the second largest exporter in the world. Brazil is the largest supplier of sugar, orange juice and coffee in the world. According to OECD, Brazil’s agricultural sector employs nearly thirteen percent of the working population in the country.
The FAO/OECD report forecasts that Brazil will become the largest beef and poultry exporter in the world by 2024. The report also estimates that the country will continue to be the second largest soybean producer in the world, only behind the United States.
The document reports that soybean should continue to be Brazil’s main agricultural export, with more than half of the country’s production going abroad. China, Brazil’s largest client is expected to export close to R$87 billion in soybean by 2024.
The two agencies agree that due to the fact that China is Brazil’s largest buyer when it comes to agribusiness products, the economic growth of the Asian country in the coming years will directly affect how much Brazil will export abroad.