After showing good growth in 2020, around 6% in sales volume, the biscuit, pasta and bread and industrialized cakes sector expects to end the year 2022 with a smaller increase in volume, around 1%. Despite seeming to be a small growth, this would still be a good result, said Claudio Zanão, executive president of the Brazilian Association of Biscuit, Pasta and Industrialized Bread & Cakes (Abimapi).
“Our expectation is for volume growth of around 1% at most. But stabilizing at 0% will be a good result too,” he said, in an interview with Brazil Agency, during the 17th International Congress of Industries. “Our product category has been holding up very well during the pandemic. There was greater growth in 2020, with emergency aid. In 2021 and 2022 there was a drop, but in parallel with 2019, which was a pre-pandemic period. So there is no reason for an explosion of consumption again,” he explained.
Not even the proximity of the World Cup can bring more positive reflexes. “Unfortunately it is not the World Cup, nor the elections [que vão influenciar nos números], but purchasing power, which remains low. Emergency aid is smaller and inconsistent. So that means you have less money in your pocket and the result is less consumption”, said the executive president of Abimapi.
Last year, these sectors together lost 1.5% in volume, compared to 2020. However, compared to 2019, a year before the covid-19 pandemic, the result was positive: an increase of 3%. But what really impressed last year were exports. “We set a record in 2021 with 200 thousand tons exported and US$ 240 million. And we hope, in this same idea, to continue in 2022 to grow another 10% or 15% as well”, said Zanão.
business rounds
With the support of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), Abimapi and the Brazilian Association of the Chocolate, Peanuts and Candies Industry (Abicab) have been meeting since Thursday (7) in Florianópolis for the 17th International Congress of Industries . During the event, the two associations are seeking to expand their business in the foreign market.
Only on Thursday there were 80 meetings, informed Rodrigo Iglesias, Abimapi’s international director. “This is the third business round that we are doing during the Abimapi Congress in partnership with Abicab and Apex-Brasil. We are performing with a focus on the United States, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Chile market. We even have buyers who are participating for the first time, online”, he told the report of Brazil Agency.
“On Thursday alone we had 80 meetings with 10 buyers, two of them online. And we have a perspective of around US$ 5 million in business. Today [sexta-feira] we should close around US$ 10 million, as we have more meetings planned than yesterday,” said Iglesias.
For Abimapi, the highlights of these negotiation rounds have been mainly pasta and sliced bread. “The loaf of bread has been standing out a lot. During the pandemic, with the closing of bakeries, access to French bread became very difficult. So the loaf of bread was an option for the consumer. The biggest moment of loaf bread consumption is breakfast. Or was it breakfast. Today it became lunch, dinner and a snack”, said Zanão.
In the case of Abicab, negotiations have mainly involved chocolate. “Chocolate has been selling a lot to Arab countries. And the bullet goes to the countries of Africa”, said Ubiracy Fonsêca, executive president of the association.
abicab
The association that represents the chocolate, peanut and candy sectors does not work with future forecasts. But it bets on the influence of the World Cup to motivate the production and commercialization of these products.
“We hope that this growth will continue to happen. Everything leads us to believe – and this is not an official position of Abicab – that we will continue with a positive performance”, said Ubiracy Fonsêca, executive president of Abicab.
Last year, according to Fonsêca, the chocolate sector was one of the highlights, growing around 36%. “It was a very expressive growth. We ended up with 693 thousand tons of finished product, not counting the chocolate. People can say that 2021 grew against 2020, which was a year of pandemic. But it is good to remember that in 2020 production did not fall: we grew 0.5% compared to 2019, which was a year without a pandemic. And in the first quarter of this year we grew 6%”, said Fonsêca.
The peanut sector is also another that is doing well, although it has faced problems with its main external buyers: Ukraine and Russia, which are at war. “Russia and Ukraine together accounted for more than 50% of Brazil’s granulated peanut exports. Abicab acted strongly in this, visiting government agencies, ApexBrasil, etc., so that we could find ways. And we were successful, we had a positive bridge with China, which until then did not import the granulated product directly from Brazil, it imported via third parties. We are in the process of making bureaucratic arrangements so that Brazil can also start exporting to China,” he said.
The candy sector, on the other hand, was the one that encountered the most difficulties in recent years. “In the pandemic, for example, he was much more impacted because many of the sales sectors in the candy sector [estavam fechados]. But he is already recovering. We have companies with good results,” he said.
The 17th International Congress of Industries is promoted by the Brazilian Association of the Biscuit, Pasta and Industrialized Bread & Cake Industries (Abimapi) and by the Brazilian Association of the Chocolate, Peanut and Candy Industry (Abicab).
*The reporter traveled at the invitation of the Brazilian Association of Biscuit, Pasta and Industrialized Bread & Cakes (Abimapi)
