The Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA) participated in the webinar “Export and sectoral panoramas – agribusiness”, promoted by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) in partnership with the Brazilian Support Service for Micro and Small Businesses (Sebrae), in this Wednesday (22).
The debaters were the CNA Export coordinator, Camila Sande, the analyst at the Sebrae Agribusiness Center, Claudia Stehling, and the private markets manager at the Family Agricultural Cooperative of Canudos, Uauá and Curaçá (Coopercuc), Dailson Andrade Santos. The event was moderated by the coordinator of Channels and Partnerships for Internationalization at CNI, Ludmila Carvalho.
The idea of the live broadcast was to discuss opportunities and how small and micro agribusiness companies can start the process of internationalizing their businesses.
According to data from CNA, Brazilian agricultural exports continue to grow even in the midst of the global crisis caused by the pandemic. The sector already accounts for 51% of total exports this year. Until June 2020, agricultural exports totaled US$ 51.8 billion, more than half of all revenue obtained in 2019 from foreign sales.
Camila Sande presented the Agro.BR project, a partnership between CNA and Apex-Brasil to promote internationalization actions and commercial promotion of Brazilian agricultural products. After three months of operation, the initiative already has 271 subscribers.
“Our project ranges from producers who want to familiarize themselves with foreign trade, who need managerial and technical help for their property to prepare for export, to those companies that are already more prepared and want to expand their presence”, she said.
Claudia Stehling spoke about how small rural businesses can be competitive in exports, based on points such as business and product knowledge, process stages, markets, sales and after-sales and necessary partnerships.
The analyst from the Sebrae Agribusiness Center also highlighted the opportunities offered through niche markets, differentiated products, indirect exports with other companies and added value through certifications and geographic identification.
“Internationalization is not a big deal. It is something very possible and an opportunity for small businesses. Many have already discovered this and are achieving success with their products. Now, this is a construction that requires patience, persistence and knowledge,” she said.
Umbu – Coopercu’s trajectory is an example of this. Formed by family farmers from the backlands of Bahia, the cooperative has been exporting sweets and jellies made from fruits native to the region since 2009. Today, countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Austria already know the flavor of umbu.
Dailson Santos presented the cooperative's business model, structured around direct contact with buyers at international fairs, commercial representation contracts for the foreign market, partnerships with trading and commercial exporters and associations with family farming cooperatives to expand the portfolio.
“We want, by December 2021, to have 5% of our sales come from the foreign market. When we decided to start exporting it was much more difficult. Today, we have the Agro.BR project and tools such as virtual business rounds. We made a lot of mistakes, but we also learned and now we have this expertise”, declared the private markets manager at Coopercuc.
Source: DATA
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