Between 2012 and 2015, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism-run Trade Offices located abroad (Ocex) promoted exports valued at US$2.892 billion, Minister Magali Silva announced on Tuesday.
"The government has been boosting trade advisory mechanisms and exports; thus, efforts are intensively undertaken to strengthen Ocexs," the government official told during her presentation before the Congress of the Republic’s Foreign Trade and Tourism Committee.
In this sense, the Executive Branch hopes to have established a total of 50 Trade Offices by 2025. Currently, 36 operate in different continents, she noted.
From January to June 2015 Ocexs have organized and taken part in 564 activities. They provided services to 9,556 buyers and 3,824 exporters.
"These actions have generated business expectations for non-traditional exports worth about US$575 million during the next 12 months," she underlined.
To date, five of these offices (located in Brazil, China, India, Japan and Mexico) have been strengthened thanks to the presence of experts on agricultural affairs.
This was made possible thanks to a new agreement signed by Mincetur, the Ministry of Agriculture (Minagri) and the National Service for Agricultural Sanitation (Senasa), in order to facilitate the entry of new agricultural produced into those markets.
New markets
"In the first semester of 2015, new markets have been opened. Turkey for sacha inchi; Japan and China for Hass avocados; United States for Super Size mangoes and papayas; and recently Canada for blueberries," the Minister highlighted.
During the second half of the year, capsicum and citrus fruits are expected to enter the U.S. and Japan Likewise, Hass avocados will be shipped to Mexico.
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