Brazil achieves largest opening up of agro products in the last 10 years by China

A new deal to facilitate Brazilian agro exports to China is being seen by experts in Brazil as ‘the largest process of opening up in the last ten years by the Asian country´s market.

Agricultural engineer Helen Jacintho said that, under the new deal, China opened the market for essential products such as soybean meal (an old demand in the sector), concentrated soy protein, corn, peanuts, and citrus pulp.

According to Ricardo Arioli, agronomist, president of the National Cereals, Fibers and Oilseeds Commission of the CNA (Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil), it was a joint negotiation of products that is of great interest to Brazil in terms of production capacity and export, prioritizing second-crop products, such as corn, sorghum, and sesame.

In a meeting between representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of China and the Ministry of Agriculture of Brazil, agreed protocols were presented to reduce bureaucracy in the inspection procedures of industries and shipments of Brazilian products.

The forecast was that shipments to China would only be released in 2023, with an agreement regarding the sanitary protocol.

Instead of sending teams to check the production units, the Chinese authorized technicians from Mapa (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply) to carry out these inspections, considerably facilitating the process for both sides.

In 2021, Brazil exported USD 41 billion to China or 34% of its total agro sales. Brazil is the largest supplier of agro products to China, responsible for approximately 20% of everything the Asian country imports.

According to Lígia Dutra, director of International Relations at CNA, the country needs to seek new trade agreements and diversify its export agenda for Brazilian agriculture to be more competitive in the international market. According to Dutra, Brazil is a major agricultural product exporter but has little market access.

“Without trade agreements, we ended up concentrating our export agenda on commodities, failing to take advantage of other opportunities in the international market that could benefit products with higher added value”, Dutra said.

“To protect our country from the bad weather of international trade, we need to sign new trade agreements to add value to exports. Trade agreements open our country to opportunities, helping to consolidate paths, guaranteeing stability and confidence for the rural producer, thus avoiding situations such as closing markets, plants, and other types of friction, ” Jacintho said.

With information from CLBrief