Brazilian table grape producers are excited to soon have access to the lucrative China market. This comes as the president of Abrafrutas, Guilherme Coelho, went to Beijing to participate in the "Brazil-China Economic Forum" and “brought back in his luggage the promise of opening the Chinese market for our table grapes,” says an excited Graco Farias, founder and CEO of Agrivale, a table grape producer and exporter from Brazil.
The negotiations have been ongoing for two years with the video inspections one of the last steps to verify farms, pack houses and procedures in Brazil. “Soon, a team from the General Administration of Customs of China, will make a virtual visit to a farm here to enable once and for all the importation, which should begin later this year,” says Farias.
He is excited because adding the lucrative China market will mean growth for San Francisco Valley, the biggest table grape production area in Brazil. “The San Francisco Valley is where 95% of the table grapes exported by Brazil come from. Last year, more than 59,000 tons were sent abroad. Here at Agrivale we send grapes to more than 23 countries - USA, countries in Europe, Mercosur and the Middle East. And this is also good for the Brazilian consumer. Because the grapes they consume here locally have the same quality standard that guarantees exports. That is, the producer, the country and you win. One thing pulls the other is a positive chain,” explains Farias.
He pointed to Abrafrutas statistics about Brazilian fruit exports, which represented about $970 million in foreign exchange with more than 1 million tons sent to Europe, the United States, South America and other markets. While it is less than the 2021 record, largely because of weather instability, exchange rate variation and logistical problems, with a shortage of containers and ships. But still an important number, which establishes Brazil as the world's third largest producer of fruits, responsible for about 5% of everything that is grown on the earth.
Other producers in Brazil commented that they too are excited to have China as a new market for table grapes. The Brazilian President, Lula da Silva, has just returned from China where several bi-lateral agreements were signed between the two countries. This includes payments between the two countries that will be done in the Chinese currency instead of US dollars.
“We still have a long way to go. Competence, work capacity and business vision are not lacking for agriculture. And the fruit growing here in the Northeast is an example. Pernambuco, again, was the largest exporter of fruits in the country. Petrolina is the largest national reference in our segment. We export around $200 million in 2022, even with the rains at the beginning of the year. Bahia, Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte also had important results, which only reaffirms the leadership of our region. And more to come: new markets are opening up this year for our products,” stated Farias.
For more information:
Graco Farias
Agrivale
Tel: +55 872 101 4099
Email: graco@agrivale.com
www.agrivale.com