The production of fruit and vegetables, is a very special form of agriculture. It allows the decent survival of small producers and employs a large number of workers. The main producing regions of fruits and vegetables in the world have dry weather with plenty of water. In Brazil, the horticultural production is traditionally concentrated near major metropolitan centers. Today this is shifting to the regions that have optimal climates for this activity (dry with plenty of water), despite the great difficulties it will have regarding logistics in these regions and the greater distance from consumption centers.
The marketing of vegetables is a "race against time" due to their perishable nature,
one of the main problems for the commercial producer.
The Brazilian international fruit and vegetable trade increased significantly between 2000 and 2010. The huge import volume growth of fruits and vegetables (93%) and processed (337%) clearly shows the potential of domestic consumption. The decrease in exports of fruits and vegetables (-7%) shows the difficulty of competing in this international market segment, which did not happen with processed fruit and vegetables which have achieved growth (47%) and diversification.
The Brazilian international trade data for fresh and processed fruit show that:
The proportion of processed fruit in relation to fresh fruit, between 2003 and 2010 grew 9% to 26% in import and from 47% to 59% for export.
The import registration of three types of pineapple processing: prepared or preserved pineapple in sugar water, etc, pineapple juice and pineapple prepared or preserved in a different way. There was great growth for the first two (83% and 79%) and drastic reduction in volume for the last, perhaps by exchanging denomination. Imports of dried fruit are not discriminated against fruit.
The data from imported processed fruits show a large change in the profile of imports between 2003 and 2010. In 2003, the prevalence (81%) was for the "preserved" and "jelly and sweet" type, followed by "juice" (14%). In 2010, the prevalence was "dry" (38%), followed by "juice" (21%). The number of processed fruit items exported has changed very little, it was between 36 and 38 (6%). The greatest growth in the number of items was in nuts (100%), dry (13%) and conserved (11%).
The volume and value of exported processed fruits grew, 47% and 80% respectively.
The Brazilian household consumption of fresh tropical fruits, recorded by the IBGE, grew 15%, going from 22 kilos per person to 25 kilos between 2002 and 2008. Pineapple consumption grew 76% from going 0.84 kilo to 1.48 kilo, banana consumption increased 9% it wet from 7 kilos to 8 kilos, an increase of 10%, passion fruit consumption fell 13% from 400 grams to 349 grams, cherry grew 3% from 121grams to 125 grams. Packaged juice consumption increased by 37% from 1 kilo to 1.5 kilo, and powder fruit juice 41%, from 300 grams to 400 grams. The fall in consumption of the passion fruit can be explained by the fall of the Brazilian production.
The association between the difference in consumption between different salary ranges, recorded by the IBGE in 2008, and the high income growth per capita in recent years, represent a very favorable framework of growing consumption of fresh and processed fruits. The consumption of tropical fruits in the greatest band of admission (more of R 6225.00) is 283% higher than the lowest income band (up to R 830.00) and 1.998% in the consumption of packaged fruit juice. The Brazilian GDP per capita is growing. It was USD 6,150 in 1999 to USD 10,800 in 2011, an increase of 76%.
The range of fruit juice and other processed fruit requires the integrated work of small and medium industries, known as polpeiras, with the great juice industries. 81 polpeira industries were lifted, which work with 78 products (data from Ibraf). 52 work with pineapples, 6 with bananas 50 with mangoes and 48 with passion fruit. Most companies work with pineapples, mangoes and passion fruit.
The transformation into pulp dominates the type of production (73%), followed by juice (19%) and frozen fruit (2%). The states of Sao Paulo (26%), Pará (25%) Bahia (10%) Espiritu Santo (5%) and Minas Gerais (5%) shelter 70% of the industries. Polpeira industries are in 19 Brazilian states. The most common type of transformation is pulp, followed by juice and frozen pulp. The types of processing used for pineapples, mangoes and passion fruit are similar. The banana is different, being transformed in essence, frozen fruit, powdered, prepared pureed pulp.
Source: Freshplaza based on information from Jornal en Treposto