Brazil's robust petrochem growth hikes naphtha imports

30-Jun-05

The Brazilian petrochem industry witnessed healthy growth this year. This has led to a whooping increase in imports of basic feedstock material, naphtha. Feedstock is conventionally procured from Arab countries by Brazil. Brazil imported naphtha to the tune of US$196.8 million from the countries in the League of Arab States up to May, an increase of 115% over the same months in 2004. Exports of naphtha from Algeria, the country in the region that sells the largest volume of the product to Brazil, grew 42% in the first five months of this year. Algerian sales revenues from Brazil amounted to US$105 million in this period, against US$74 million in the same period in 2004. Libya also increased sales by almost three folds from US$8 million in the period from January and May 2004 to US$ 21 million in the same months in 2005. Brazil, with an effort to reduce dependence on traditional importers added to its list of Arab suppliers of naphtha for the petrochemical industry: Morocco and Syria. Syria, a new entrant was not a naphtha supplier to Brazil in 2004. Imports from Morocco recorded a 79% jump as Brazil purchased about US$42 million of naphtha for its petrochemical industry from Morocco between January and May 2005. This translates to a hike in revenues from trade with Brazil to US$123.9 million in the period, against US$ 69.2 million in the first five months of 2004. The year 2004 saw no trade in naphtha between Brazil and Morocco. In 2003 and 2002, Brazil had purchased naphtha from Morocco at lower volumes of US$ 24 million and US$ 26 million.