Brazil needs to reduce its exports of soybeans and increase sales of soybean meal and oil as a way of adding value to agricultural production and stimulating industries in the sector, warned the representative of Cargill Brasil and president of the Brazilian Association of Oil Industries Vegetais, Andre Nassar, in a public hearing promoted, this Wednesday (30), by the Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Commission (CRA), reports the official “Senado” network.
According to Nassar, in 1981, of the total exports of soy and derivatives, 87% corresponded to soybean meal, a product with the highest added value, and the remainder, 13%, soybeans. In 2017, he explained, the situation was reversed, with soybean exports corresponding to 81% of the total sold abroad.
— Of course there is the meat part and the bran. But clearly we need to open up the market for bran so that we can stimulate our industries. Today we have the capacity to increase the crushing of soybeans for the production of bran by 10 million tons — he said.
Nassar highlighted that China, currently the largest importer of Brazilian cereal, predominantly buys soybeans in grain.
The Solutions Manager of Banco do Brasil's Foreign Trade Unit, Alessandra Aranda, presented the products and services that the bank offers in the area of foreign trade for soy and derivatives. The head of the Agro-food and Biofuels Complex Department of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), Mauro Arnaud de Queiroz Mattoso, spoke about the importance of public financing for the agribusiness sector for the country. According to him, 21% of the Brazilian gross domestic product (GDP) originates from agricultural production.
The manager of the Agribusiness and Food Department of the Innovation and Research Financier (Finep), André do Nascimento Fernandes, also participated in the debate.
Bilateral Agreements
In a second table, representatives from federal government bodies analyzed the bilateral agreements that Brazil recently signed with several countries and trading blocs.
Director of Trade and Commercial Negotiations at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa), Ana Lúcia Gomes spoke about the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, which was announced at the end of June. According to her, in the agreement the European Union should release 82% from trade in agricultural products within ten years, with excellent benefits for Brazil in the negotiation of products such as fruits, roasted coffee and soluble coffee, sugar, ethanol, among other goods.
The general coordinator of Extra-regional Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE), Paula Aguiar Barboza, highlighted the importance of bilateral trade agreements for Brazil. As he explained, in the 90s there were only 70 bilateral agreements that accounted for less than 30% of international trade flow. At the end of 2010, there were already 400 trade agreements that accounted for more than 60% of international trade flows.
— The Brazilian government, faced with these numbers, clearly saw that we were not going to change our participation in the World Trade Organization [WTO]. We maintained the priority of the WTO as we still do. But we would have to enter this world and increase our network of bilateral agreements — he said.
