Egg exports from Brazil to Arab countries grossed US$16.5 million year-to-date through August, up 28 per cent from the same period of 2013, according to figures supplied by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, reports the Brazil-Arab news agency, ANBA.

The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan were the Arab countries that imported eggs from Brazil in the first eight months of 2014.

The vice president of the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA), Ricardo Santin, who is in charge of poultry, told ANBA that two factors have contributed to the performance. Firstly, he said, Brazilian exporters had to find alternative destinations after Angola, Brazil’s third leading destination up until last year, began requiring import licenses for protectionst reasons.

Besides, the industry has implemented a policy with greater emphasis in the Middle East and invested in market intelligence in Arab countries. “There is room for us to increase exports to those countries,” Mr Santin said.

He cited promotional actions such as the launch of institutional brand Brazilian Egg in the latest edition of Gulfood, a food industry fair held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in March, and revealed that the action will continue next year.

“Our main focus in 2015 will be the Middle East, because the countries in the region are already major partners of ours in poultry, and have potential to be so in eggs too,” he said.

The Middle East is the leading market for Brazilian poultry, and the executive believes this will make it easier to increase egg exports, since local clients are aware of the capacity and quality of Brazilian exporters.

Year-to-date through August, the Emirates was the main Arab buyer of Brazilian eggs and the second worldwide – the first was Venezuela – with $10.3 million in imports, up 23 per cent from the same period in 2013. Saudi Arabia ranked second among Arab countries and fifth worldwide with $3.3 million in imports, a 15-fold increase. Bahrain and Sudan imported less.

Mr Santin said Brazilian egg exports are not significant, accounting for less than one per cent of national output but there are plans to increase that rate, and he stressed that the country has the capacity to meet international demand.

The executive, who arrived recently from a trip to Russia, mentioned poultry meat as a case in point. Russia has placed an embargo on imports from the United States, European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway, in response to sanctions imposed by these countries and bloc upon Moscow for its support to Russian separatists in Ukraine. As a result, Russia has resorted to Brazil in order to supply its market.

This demand is already visible from the statistics.

According to Mr Santin, in the first half of this year, Brazil exported an average of 5,000 tonnes of poultry per month to Russia; this rose to 6,000 tonnes in July, 8,000 tonnes in August and 8,100 tonnes in the first two weeks of September, and may reach 20,000 tonnes by the end of the month. This sharp increase, he said, does not compromise exports to other destinations.

“We have elasticity in production when it comes to poultry and eggs,” he told the agency.