CURIOUS EXPORTS - It's not just soy | Brazil is an exporter of donkeys, tilapia, popcorn and avocado

Between 2000 and 2019, Brazil ranked second on the list of the largest soybean exporters in the world, behind the United States. Last year, it started to lead this list, with the sale of 84 million tons of soy, which represents 50% of the world trade in the grain.

But we don't stop there: we are still the second largest exporter of corn, with 38 million tons, cotton, with 2.4 million tons, and sugar, with 30.8 million tons. That, not to mention meat - chicken, beef and pork...

However, in the list of exportable items in agribusiness, there are products that, despite not attracting much attention, as they are not part of the group of commodities (products that have their prices set on stock exchanges), are quite attractive on the international market, both for rural producers and for companies. Popcorn, avocado, farmed fish and even meat and donkey skins are some of them, and demand has only increased since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA), in 2020, Brazil exported 98,900 tons of corn for popcorn, 7,600 tons of avocado, 6,900 tons of tilapia and almost 90,000 donkeys .

The biggest attraction of donkeys is the skin, an item overvalued by traditional Chinese medicine, but which can lead to the extinction of the species in the country, since the animal's reproduction does not keep pace with the slaughter. Viviane Taguchi/UOL

Avocado is a variety of avocado and represents 90% of fruit crops in Brazil

Avocado is avocado yes

There is huge confusion among consumers when it comes to avocado and avocado. In fact, everything is avocado and avocado (or hass) is just one of the seven commercial varieties of the fruit, the one that is most in demand in the international market. According to the Brazilian Association of Fruit Exporters (Abrafrutas), the national production of avocados in 2021 is 196 thousand tons, in an area of 16 thousand hectares, spread over São Paulo (84% of production), Paraná and Minas Gerais . Avocado, which is smaller and has a thick, dark bark, is the most cultivated (90%).

In Bauru, in the interior of São Paulo, the largest production of avocados in the country is located. The harvest is annual, from February to September and, from there, approximately 5,000 tonnes of avocados are produced every year and at least half of them have a certain destination: the European Union, Scandinavia, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco. Lígia Carvalho, director of the Jaguacy farm, says that, since the beginning of the activity, in the 1970s, the focus has always been on exports. "It is one of the most popular fruits in Europe," she says.

Because it is so popular in other countries, the avocado occupies the 12th position in the list of the most exported national fruits, according to Abrafrutas. Last year, 7,600 tonnes were exported. Carvalho pointed out that in Europe, demand increases around 30% a year, while in Brazil, consumption only took off in the last 10 years, driven by interest in healthier foods. "We are betting on the growth of the domestic market, but the main focus is still on the foreign market."

PeixeBR

Reservoir fish farming is in growing demand in countries like the United States, China and Chile

Brazilian fish

Another agricultural product that has a captive place on the international market is fish, especially tilapia, grown in tanks installed in the freshwater reservoirs of hydroelectric power plants. According to data from PeixeBR, an entity that brings together companies in the production chain, in 2020, exports increased 8% compared to 2019, totaling 6.8 thousand tons, but in 2021, the expectation is that the increase in foreign sales will double, reaching at least 12 thousand tons exported until December.

Francisco Medeiros, president of the entity, pointed out that it was in the month of June that sales accelerated for real in the segment: 158% above sales registered in May, and the trend is that demand continues to increase. "If we take into account the pandemic and the undue restrictions on the entry of our farmed fish into the European Union, the export performance is very positive," he pointed out. The United States, China and Chile are among the biggest buyers from Brazil, said the executive.

The sector's optimism is a direct result of the growing demand for fish from the largest buyer, the United States, and the authorization of at least 10 Brazilian slaughterhouses by the Chinese government. The forecast of the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA) is that, by the end of this year, exports will increase 150% compared to last year. PeixeBR speaks of 100%.

In 2018, the European Union banned the import of fish farmed or captured by Brazilian boats. PeixeBR is acting, together with Mapa, to reverse the decision. Disclosure/CNA

In 2021, exports of tilapia are expected to double, according to the sector's entity

Tilapia from Paraná

PeixeBR's statistics showed that the sales of national fish exports in the second quarter of 2021 totaled US$ 3.9 million. Of this total, US$ 3.4 million came from exports of tilapia alone. And it was also during this period that Paraná surpassed Mato Grosso do Sul and became the largest producer of this fish in the country.

According to official Foreign Trade data, the State's revenue from the sale of tilapia reached US$ 1.22 million between the months of April and June alone. The second place, Mato Grosso do Sul, obtained in the same period the revenue of US$ 993.9 thousand and then Santa Catarina appeared as the third largest seller of tilapia and the revenue of U$ 764 thousand in three months.

According to the Secretary of Agriculture of Paraná, 40% of exports are products that are not intended for human consumption (by-products such as oil and raw material for animal feed), but 38% correspond to frozen whole tilapia, 19% are fresh fillets and chilled and 3% frozen. "The results demonstrate the strength of our production chain and cooperatives, attentive to global trade and the quality of the product from Paraná", says the state secretary of Agriculture and Supply, Norberto Ortigara.

Popcorn in the pan

Corn is an ancestral cereal: in the seed bank of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) alone, there are more than four thousand different types. But when it comes to commercial cultivation, in addition to corn in grain - the traditional one that places Brazil in the position of the second largest producer and exporter in the world - popcorn corn gains the spotlight. And, according to researcher Israel Pereira Filho, from Embrapa, the crop gained scale two decades ago due to partnerships with multinationals, which invested in research and genetic improvement of seeds.

The producers who chose to grow popcorn are in regions close to the food factories - Mato Grosso, Goiás and Paraná - and, even before planting, they already guarantee the sale to multinationals. A chain of cinemas, with administrative headquarters in Goiás, buys around 2,000 tons of corn per year, directly from farmers, to distribute in 88 cinemas across the country. Companies that produce microwave popcorn partner with producers in Mato Grosso to produce the delicacy.

Brazil is the second largest producer in the world and produces around 320 thousand tons per year - 220 thousand tons are on the domestic market, but the rest is exported. Until 1998, the grain had to be imported from the United States or Argentina. Last year, in Mato Grosso, 279,000 tonnes of popcorn were produced in an area of 4,000 hectares. In Paraná, production is around 2,000 tons.

Donkeys

As of 2016, Brazil has become one of the biggest donkey suppliers to China. With an eye on animal hides, the Chinese import 90,000 donkeys a year, something around US$ 3 billion, and the reason is that in their skin there is a gelatinous substance used in traditional Chinese medicine. The "eijão" is a popular remedy that serves to cure ailments ranging from insomnia to sexual impotence.

Trade, however, can lead to the species' extinction, warn researchers at the USP School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science. A study showed that the slaughter of animals increased by 8000% between 2015 and 2019 in Brazil and, according to researcher Adroaldo Zanella, the current herd of donkeys is estimated at 400,000 animals. "Until 2010, the average slaughter was 4,825 donkeys per year and, after dropping to 46 per year between 2011 and 2014, it rose again, with 1,435 in 2016," said Zanella. In 2018, according to him, 26 thousand slaughters were registered, 62 thousand in the following year and in 2020, 98.8 thousand.

The slaughter of equidae - horses, mules and donkeys - is allowed in Brazil and the decree 9013/2017 provides a legal framework that allows the slaughter of donkeys and other species. Data from the Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade (MDIC) show that it is not just the Chinese who import donkeys, but the Italians, Portuguese and Spaniards as well. "An average of 7.3 thousand tonnes of hides and leather were exported per year alone to meet European demand," he said. Last year, 98,800 tonnes of donkey and horse meat were exported, according to the Ministry. Disclosure/USP | Adroaldo Zanella, researcher at USP

Animal abandonment

Symbols of the Northeast, donkeys began to be replaced by motorcycles in the 2000s. Abandoned, the herds began to graze freely on the region's highways (BR-020, for example, on the stretch that links Bahia to Piauí, is popularly called the BR-Jegue, due to the number of animals that pass through the lanes at dusk) and farms, which allowed illegal slaughter to gain momentum.

Most of the slaughters, according to Zanella, took place in Bahia and Ceará, where, according to the NGO The Donkey Sanctuary, illegally, the animals are sold for up to R$30, but a piece of skin can cost up to US$400,000 in the market. International. The NGO estimates that, in 2021, 64 thousand donkeys will be legally slaughtered in Brazil, but the number could be even higher, around 77 thousand, with the illegal trade.

Last year, the Agricultural Defense Agency of Bahia (Adab) regulated the procedures for transit and slaughter of donkeys in the state. According to the agency, the slaughter of females in the final third of pregnancy and of animals weighing less than 90 kilos was prohibited, and that in the state there is only one slaughterhouse authorized by the Chinese government for the slaughter of donkeys. Top, Published August 27, 2021.

Source: UOL Economy Site | Text by VIVIANE TAGUCHI