The Belgian chip industry has become the smiling third in Brazil. The Netherlands continues to lose ground and the country is benefiting greatly from this. Turkey is no longer able to develop its export position. New competition is lurking from Europe.
A little over a year ago, in February 2017, Brazil introduced an anti-dumping tax on French fries from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France. This put potato product imports on shuffle. Our industry was hit hard by a high tax, making it difficult to maintain the export position.
Stable demand
Looking at the whole of 2017, the Brazilian import figures of French fries and other frozen potato products show that the volume has stabilised. Especially in December, the Brazilians attracted the import. The converted financial volume increased mainly due to a higher volume of chips. The export volume in 2017 amounts to 349.000 tons, compared to 346.000 tons in 2016 and 293.000 tons in 2015.
In December, Brazil imported almost 34.000 tons of frozen potato products, which fall under category HS 200410 (mainly French fries). It is a minus of 2,5% compared to December 2016. However, this is still the third highest monthly figure in the history of the country. The import has a value of €3 million. Over the whole of 27,5, the export value of the chips is €2017 million (293,8 billion Brazilian real). That was €1 million in 2016. It should be noted that exports were significantly higher in 291,2 due to the Olympic Games.
Belgium
In the last month of the year, Belgium more than doubled the volume of chips in tons of product and monetary value. This is mainly at the expense of Turkey, which was on the rise in Brazil. Dutch industry continues to lose ground. Neighboring Argentina is a stable factor in the import figures.
Belgium shows the biggest plus in supply in December, at 124%. Turkey and the Netherlands are both firmly in the negative with 55% and 44% respectively. France also shows a significant minus at 45%. The United States is the only country that manages to significantly expand its position. The most expensive chips are sold by Argentina. Belgium is price fighter and is at the same bottom as Turkey in December. The price is almost half of what Argentine sellers charge.
Europe benefits
As mentioned, the anti-dumping tax is causing the European export countries in particular to be on a shuffle. The EU-4, with the exception of Belgium, is losing grip on the South American country and small players get a chance. The latter, whether or not as a puppet of the big players. For example, we find Poland with 4.000 tons of chips in the list and the United Kingdom with 3.500 tons. If we convert that into percentages, exports increase by 8.800% for Poland and 7.800% for the UK. A small advantage for the British is that the pound is favorable against the euro and dollar.