Pedro Malavolta
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Paulo - Brazil will be the theme of the world's largest natural food fair, the BioFach, which begins on Thursday (24) in Nurenberg, Germany. The Brazilian Export Promotion Agency (Apex-Brazil) is coordinating a mission composed of one hundred companies, the overwhelming majority (93%) small and medium-sized. The project has the support of Sebrae (the Brazilian Small Business Assistance Administration), the Bank of Brazil, the Ministries of Agrarian Development, Agriculture, and Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, as well as the Brazil-Germany Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The vice-president of the Brazil-Germany Chamber, Thomas Timm, has audacious plans. "Our goal is to transform Brazil in the world's largest producer of organic products." Timm is basing his forecast on the fact that Brazil possesses 87% of the world's new tillable lands. For a product to be certified as organic, it should be grown without the use of pesticides, but there are many other requirements.

Even if the sale of Brazilian natural products continues to grow at its current annual rate of 30-50% (which is double the global average), the country is still far from being the largest producer. According to Apex data, the world market for organic products is responsible for an annual turnover of US$ 26.5 billion, of which Brazil is responsible for only US$ 100 million.

Apex president Juan Quirós explains that the three main buyers of natural products are the United States, Germany, and Japan. "Even though the United States represents the world's biggest market, we have identified the German market, and the European market in general, as easier to win over," he argues, adding that "the fact of the country's being the theme of the Biofach is very important to the Brazilian strategy of strengthening the production of organic items and family farming."

Translation: David Silberstein