Brazilian Foreign Trade of Flowers and Ornamental Plants, 1997-2002

            The world production of ornamental plants and flowers covers an estimated area of 190 thousand hectares. This market moves amounts nearing US$ 16 billion per year at producer level, US$ 44 billion per year at retail level, and values exceeding US$ 5 billion in terms of exports (Motos, 2003)⁵.
            In 1999, the intercountry trade of floriculture products moved US$ 7,9 billion, the main exporters being Holland (51,5%) and Colombia (6,9%). In this scenario, Brazil ranked 31st, accounting for a mere 0,2 percent of the global market (Pathfast, 2001)⁶.
            The Brazilian Export Program of Ornamental Plants and Flowers (FloraBrasilis), created by the Brazilian government in October 2000 through both the Brazilian Export Promotion Agency (APEX) and the Brazilian Institute of Floriculture (IBRAFLOR) (FloraBrasilis, 2001)³, had the initial ambitious target of raising export from US$ 11 million in 2000 to US$ 80 million per year until 2003 (Programa, 2003)⁷, later postponed to 2004 (Vários, 2003)⁸ and to 2005 (Farid, 2003)².
            How to face this challenge? One way forward must be through an objective analysis of the historic and detailed balance of the figures in this market so as to improve the return index of campaigns disseminating Brazilian products and suit them in the mid and long terms.
            This research has a twofold focus: to quantify the main products in the Brazilian export agenda for ornamental plants and flowers, and to identify the country’s main commercial partners, thus making way for a better understanding of the sector
            Data from1997 to 2002 data were used from the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (SECEX) of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) (Ministério, 2003)⁴ detailing the products from the import & export agenda for live plants and floriculture products by category and by economic bloc and classified according to Chapter 6 of the South Cone Common Terminology (NCM) (details are shown on Table 1).

Brazilian Trade of Floriculture Products, 1997-2002

            The total value of the exports of live plants and floriculture products over 1997-2002, by Position, reveals different degrees of participation: the group encompassing ornamental’s nursery plants (NCM 0602) represents 56% of the total value; the group of bulbs (NCM 0601) 28%, and the foliage (NCM 0604) and bouquet flowers groups (NCM 0603) represent, each, 8% of the Brazilian export value. In this period, although the total balance of the Brazilian trade of live plants and floriculture products was always positive, the thorough analysis, i.e. by Position, registered deficit in the flowers for bouquets category (Table 2).

Bulbs, Tuber and Rhizomes

            Brazilian exports of bulbs, tuber and rhizomes over 1997-2002 grew from US$ 2,9 million to US$ 4,0 million, the main commercial partner being the European Union which, in 2002, imported from Brazil US$ 3,6 million, accounting for 90,4% of the total exported. The remaining percentage was occupied by the NAFTA, the MERCOSUR and Chile. Brazilian imports experienced steady growth in the period, increasing from US$ 695 thousand in 1997 to US$ 2,4 million in 2002. In 2002, exclusively, the European Union (99,8%) and the NAFTA (0,2%) were the commercial partners so, in this case, the former was Brazil’s main partner (Table 3).

Table 1 - List of Products that compose the Chapter 06 of the South Cone Common Terminology (NCM), Live Plants and Floriculture Products

Position	Sub-item	Live Plants and Floriculture Products	Class1
	0601.10.00	Bulbs, tubers, rhizomes, etc. in vegetative rest	1
	0601.20.00	Bulbs, tubers, etc. in flower, nursery plants of chicory	1
0601		Bulbs, tubers, rhizomes, etc.
	0602.10.00	Not-rooted stakes and grafts	1
	0602.20.00	Trees, bushes of edible fruits	1
	0602.30.00	Rhododendron and azaleas, grafted or not	1
	0602.40.00	Rosebushes, grafted or not	1
	0602.90.10	Mycelium of Mushrooms	2
	0602.90.81	Young plants of sugar-cane	2
	0602.90.21	Young plants of orchids	1
	0602.90.29	Young plants of other ornamental plants	1
	0602.90.82	Young plants of grapevine	2
	0602.90.83	Young plants of coffee	2
	0602.90.89	Young plants of other plants	2
	0602.90.90	Other live plants	2
0602		Young plants of ornamental plants, of orchids, etc.
	0603.10.00	Fresh cut flowers for bouquets, etc.	1
	0603.90.00	Dry cut flowers for bouquets, etc.	1
0603		Cut flowers for bouquets
	0604.10.00	Mosses and lichens, for bouquets or ornamentation	1
	0604.91.00	Foliage, leaves, branches of plants, fresh, for bouquets, etc.	1
	0604.99.00	Foliage, leaves, branches of plants, dry, for bouquets, etc.	1
0604		Leaves, foliages and mosses for floriculture

¹Class 1: Sub-item related to floriculture products;
Class 2: Sub-item related to live plants.
Source: Classificação, 2002¹.

Table 2 – Commercial Balance of Flowers and Ornamental Plants, Brazil, 1997-2002
(in US$ FOB)

Year	A – Bulbs, tubers and rhizomes
	Export	Var. %	Import	Var. %	Balance
1997	2.935.866	-	695.189	-	2.240.677
1998	3.522.670	20	922.383	33	2.600.287
1999	4.051.583	15	1.140.619	24	2.910.964
2000	3.197.158	-21	1.466.628	29	1.730.530
2001	3.346.885	5	1.818.930	24	1.527.955
2002	4.004.551	20	2.392.342	32	1.612.209
Total A	21.058.713	-	8.436.091	-	12.622.622
Year	B - Young plants of ornamentals and live plants
	Export	Var. %	Import	Var. %	Balance
1997	6.327.544	-	1.839.274	-	4.488.270
1998	6.986.577	10	2.718.677	48	4.267.900
1999	7.261.341	4	2.397.932	-12	4.863.409
2000	6.666.533	-8	3.217.248	34	3.449.285
2001	7.493.336	12	3.745.006	16	3.748.330
2002	8.324.426	11	4.464.470	19	3.859.956
Total B	43.059.757	-	18.382.607	-	24.677.150
Year	C – Cut flowers for bouquets
	Export	Var. %	Import	Var. %	Balance
1997	1.288.884	-	3.167.487	-	-1.878.603
1998	1.156.748	-10	4.241.008	34	-3.084.260
1999	1.252.485	8	1.883.025	-56	-630.540
2000	443.098	-65	1.665.672	-12	-1.222.574
2001	554.891	25	1.492.737	-10	-937.846
2002	1.226.391	121	1.313.688	-12	-87.297
Total C	5.922.497	-	13.763.617	-	-7.841.120
Year	D - Leaves, foliages and mosses for floriculture
	Export	Var. %	Import	Var. %	Balance
1997	452.696	-	173.950	-	278.746
1998	376.134	-17	65.974	-62	310.160
1999	558.255	48	55.333	-16	502.922
2000	1.577.553	183	49.227	-11	1.528.326
2001	1.891.595	20	37.747	-23	1.853.848
2002	1.466.799	-22	40.227	7	1.426.572
Total D	6.323.032	-	422.458	-	5.900.574
Year	E – Live plants and floriculture products
	Export	Var. %	Import	Var. %	Balance
1997	11.004.990	-	5.875.900	-	5.129.090
1998	12.042.129	9	7.948.042	35	4.094.087
1999	13.123.664	9	5.476.909	-31	7.646.755
2000	11.884.342	-9	6.398.775	17	5.485.567
2001	13.286.707	12	7.094.420	11	6.192.287
2002	15.022.167	13	8.210.727	16	6.811.440
Total E	76.363.999	-	41.004.773	-	35.359.226

Source: Ministério, 2003⁴.
 

Table 3 - Export and Import of Brazilian Bulbs, Tubers and Rhizomes, by Main Destiny and Origin, 1997-2002
(in US$ FOB)

	Blocks and Countries
	NAFTA1	European Union2	MERCOSUR3	Chile	Others	Total
Export
1997	218.107	2.587.166	65.377	43.616	21.600	2.935.866
1998	203.572	3.158.358	95.160	62.480	3.100	3.522.670
1999	327.621	3.635.337	67.052	18.654	2.919	4.051.583
2000	310.152	2.799.469	70.335	13.598	3.604	3.197.158
2001	440.128	2.824.145	37.022	22.593	22.997	3.346.885
2002	344.470	3.620.180	22.046	17.855	0	4.004.551
Import
1997	4.245	639.183	0	11.126	40.635	695.189
1998	0	910.740	0	1.096	10.547	922.383
1999	0	1.115.171	0	0	25.448	1.140.619
2000	2.873	1.444.162	0	0	19.593	1.466.628
2001	0	1.811.348	0	0	7.582	1.818.930
2002	5.548	2.386.794	0	0	0	2.392.342

¹United States, Canada, Mexico and Porto Rico.
²Alemanha, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Italy, Holland, United Kingdom, Sweden, etc.
³Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil.
Source: Ministério, 2003⁴.

Nursery Plants of Ornamentals and Other Live Plants

            The export value for this category, occupying the largest slice in the live plants and floriculture products item, increased from US$ 6,3 million in 1997 to US$ 8,3 million in 2002, being the main buyers the European Union (80,5% of the exported value) and Japan, whose imports ranged from 10,6% to 14,8% of the total Brazil exports. Regarding imports, Chile is the second major supplier of this item, after the European Union. The blocs and countries herein analyzed account for 99,7% of the total value of Brazilian exports and 76% of the imports in 2002 (Table 4).

Cut Flowers for Bouquets

            The exports value of flowers for bouquets, sharply slumped in 2000 and 2001, recovered growth in 2002, reaching US$ 1,2 million and returning to the 1999 levels. As a result, the commercial deficit of this category lowered to US$ 87,2 thousand. (Table 2). Brazil basically imports from two Latin American countries: Colombia and Ecuador, having imported in 2002, respectively 82,1% and 17,1%. The main buyers of Brazilian products are the NAFTA and the European Union which, in 2002, imported respectively, 51,6% and 43,5% of the value of Brazilian sales abroad. Thus the economic bloc herein analyzed encompassed almost 100% of the value moved both in exports and exports (Table 5).

Table 4 - Export and Import of Brazilian Young plants of Ornamentals and Live Plants, by Main Destiny and Origin, 1997-2002
(in US$ FOB) <T

Item	Blocks and Countries
	NAFTA1	European Union2	MERCOSUR3	Japan	Colombia	Ecuador	Chile	Swiss	Others	Total
Export
1997	74.120	4.964.143	557.753	710.754	0	4.700	0	2.182	13.892	6.327.544
1998	63.595	5.444.961	642.558	791.950	0	13.232	314	1.396	28.571	6.986.577
1999	86.215	5.707.336	473.554	975.449	0	5.097	0	0	13.690	7.261.341
2000	69.924	5.149.965	434.201	989.579	0	0	0	504	22.360	6.666.533
2001	264.048	5.709.539	697.844	795.512	300	0	809	8.050	17.234	7.493.336
2002	447.115	6.698.183	241.406	896.420	0	0	9.835	5.190	26.277	8.324.426
Import
1997	139.681	1.311.002	18.226	11.698	11.367	0	87.873	0	259.427	1.839.274
1998	157.868	1.800.479	149.454	40.985	16.528	0	79.317	0	474.046	2.718.677
1999	118.268	1.471.712	195.071	9.104	40.587	3.000	79.385	0	480.805