Last week, a large delegation of Brazilian companies participated in the ‘World Annapurna Fair’ held in Mumbai. Their aim was to increase its business ties in the agriculture and food sectors of India. Nine out of 20 companies, which visited India as part of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) in partnership with the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were bean producers. The Brazilian companies are expecting that their business with India should reach around USD 80 million in one year.
In 2017, Brazil was the third biggest seller of beans to India with 6 per cent of the market share after Myanmar (60%) and China (10%). Last year only, India imported USD 553.8 million in beans and from that amount, USD 34 million were from Brazil. However, in 2013, Brazil was responsible for only 1.1% of beans sales to India. Be that as it may be, Brazilian companies are slowly learning how to do business with India. They have realised that patience is the biggest virtue when it comes to doing business in India, which is no different in many ways with their own country.
According to the Brazilian Bean Institute (Ibrafe), the goal is to double Brazilian exports within the next three years. For this, the industry has the support of Apex-Brasil, as well as the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA).
This 13th essay of Annapoorna World of Food India took place in Mumbai between September 27 and 29. The theme of this year was “Taste the Success and exploring the possibilities of making India a global food trade business hub.” There were official country pavilions from Australia, Brazil, China, Italy, Korea, New South Wales, Poland and Turkey, apart from individual participation from over 13 countries.
The main focus was to discuss trade between Brazil and India, as well as opportunities in the food and agri-business sectors, especially in light of the upcoming new policy for the export of Indian agricultural products. India shares a strategic partnership with Brazil and such platforms can become a catalyst in boosting their trade and commerce relations. Moreover, India needs to work on several untapped areas with Brazil, which is otherwise viewed as a closed economy, to further strengthen their diplomatic ties. Recently, after clinching the North American trade deal, the U.S. President Donald Trump criticised the Indian and Brazilian commerce and described the latter as being “maybe the toughest in the world”. Therefore, in such a scenario, India should use every single opportunity to expand trade ties with Brazil, which itself is extending hands to New Delhi.