Exports of fresh fruit from Brazil have recorded their first volume increase in recent years, according to data from the country’s Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex) compiled by the Brazilian Fruit Institute (Ibraf).
Sendings rose by 2.08 per cent to 540,700 tonnes between January and October this year, compared with 477,200 tonnes during the year-earlier period, reported Vermelho Portal.
However, the report was quick to point out that the increase comes on the back of favourable weather conditions in the South American country and not improved demand in Europe.
The upturn is a direct result of recovering melon and apple exports after the impact of last year’s adverse weather which brought heavy rains to Brazil’s melon-growing region of Rio Grande do Norte and hailstorms to apple orchards in Santa Catarina.
Between January and October this year, Brazilian melon exports rose by 17.6 per cent to 119,600 tonnes, while apple sendings jumped 48.3 per cent to 72,100 tonnes, Secex-Ibraf said.
Despite the growth in Brazil’s leading fruit export items, the organisations said the increases failed to offset volume declines in other categories.
Indeed, although the appreciation of the US dollar against the Brazilian real has given some light relief, poor demand in the European Union, which receives 80 per cent of Brazil’s fresh fruit volume, continues to hamper the export trade, according to the report.
Table grape exports for instance fell 18.2 per cent to 98,300 tonnes, affected by high production costs, Secex-Ibraf data indicated.
“Demand remains limited even with the dollar re-valued,” lamented Ibraf manager, Cloves Ribeiro. “The Europeans cannot pay the price for which Brazilian fruit is worth.”
As a result, revenues from Brazilian exports in the first ten months of this year fell by 3.75 per cent to US$477m, compared with US$495.9m in 2011, the report said.
Cloves warned that the early forecasts for 2013 are also not positive.
“The bad weather did not affect the export volume this year, but for 2013 we have considered some problems in the northeast because of the drought,” he explained.
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