On 2012 projections
Brazil: Fruit exporting sector is pessimistic
Between January and February of 2012, the amount increased by 8.84%, 96.3 thousand tons, with exporters getting US$68.2 million Dollars. The agronomy engineer from Ibraf, Clovis Ribeiro, said that this is not a sign of positive attitude for the remaining of the year.
"The tendency for 2012 is not a good one. These factors diminish our competitiveness in the international market and we must work at previous years levels, between 600,000 and 700,000 tons", he pointed.
In an attempt to reduce the strong dependency on Europe, which buys about 80% of the Brazilian fruit, Ribeiro says that they are negotiating the entrance in new markets. While this isn't happening, the only way out for producers is the internal market, still on a high.
"One of the factors helping Brazilian fruit is the increase in the internal market, with good prices. This helps keep up production in the fields", he says, adding: "The market was much more sensitive to exports and to the reduction in some products, mainly fresh fruit. This uncertainty in the exchange rate makes us to pessimistic about prices. Sometimes the Euro is at R$2.37 or R$2.40 and when it used to be R$2.30, because we are afraid of a reduction when the exchange market closes".
According to this businessman, the offer is on a high, sales are falling and the external client doesn't pay enough. He explained that, for lemon, a 4.5kilo boxe costs around 2.8 Euro to be produced. The price paid wasn't above 2.5 Euro. Projections for 2012 are worrying.
"It's going to be a delicate situation and people working the traditional way will have to pay attention to market changes", he concluded.