Brazil is increasingly becoming an important player on the world stage when it comes to imports and exports. The stabilization of Mercosul and new trade agreements are allowing the country to grow when we talk about the international scene, and one of the biggest sources of this growth can be linked to what we call the Arab countries.
So-called nations located in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, are increasingly becoming an important trading partner for our country. In the year 2021 alone, Brazil’s trade flow with these countries represented $24.25 billion dollars, with our homeland exporting about $14.42 billion, an increase of almost 26% in revenue when compared to the previous year, reaching figures that had not been recorded since 2014.
Oil has always had a very strong force in the imports made by Brazil from these countries, after all they make up almost 43% of the oil produced worldwide, however, this balance was also moved in Brazil’s favor by purchases of products such as iron ore, mainly for the production of aluminum. As well as the other products that were already given as “common” in this trade relationship, with the large Brazilian exports of chicken meat and sugar.
THE MAIN PARTNER
Of all these nations, the one that stood out the most during 2021 was the United Arab Emirates. The revenue from trade with this country had a significant increase in the order of 13.21% when compared to the year 2020, in second place came Saudi Arabia, with a growth of almost 10%.
Countries like Algeria and Morocco also showed a significant increase in the Brazilian purchase chain and may become important trade partners in the future.
MERCOSUL AGREEMENTS
This increase in the trade balance can be traced back to Mercosul, which in August 2021 began negotiating again with Arab countries in search of free trade agreements, at the moment there is one with Egypt, signed in 2017, but with the progress of negotiations and the commercial growth of these countries in the last year with Latin America, it is expected that soon new agreements will be signed, benefiting even more the countries involved.
The Brazilian president also visited the United Arab Emirates in 2019, more than 10 years since the last official visit, which helped to conclude bilateral economic cooperation agreements. Brazil is this nation’s main partner in Latin America, and the growth in Arab imports and investments may be a reflection of this partnership that promises to be very successful for all nations involved.
