Export of açaí grows almost 15,000% in ten years

In recent years, açaí has become known worldwide for its energetic properties, being an “ambassador for the Amazon”, recognized as a typical product of the region. Research is underway to study the benefits of its consumption, as well as the versatility of its application, including in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry. The high international demand for the product occurs at the same time that the traditional consumption by the inhabitants of the Amazon only gets bigger.

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The global discovery of the product in the last decade is reflected in the numbers, which prove the international interest. Alone, the State of Pará represents more than 94% of açaí exports from Brazil to the world. In the last ten years, the export growth of the product from Pará has taken a dizzying leap: it has grown by more than 14,380% (almost 15 thousand percent). It went from 41 tonnes exported in 2011 to a record 5,937 tonnes in 2020. In just one year, between 2019 and 2020, the growth was 51%. In 2018, exports broke, for the first time, around 2 thousand tons. In 2019, there were 3,900. And, in 2020, a new leap.

The “problem” is that, besides being the largest producer and exporter of the fruit, Pará is also the largest local consumer of the fruit in Brazil. Açaí is an indispensable item on the table of Pará in everyday life, being consumed as an accompaniment to a meal or dessert. 

For those who do not know, it may even seem strange to eat fish or salted meat, the “charque” (a kind of dried meat) with açaí, but this in Pará is as natural as having a glass of water.

This week, professionals who process açaí for sale in small quantities, called “açaí beaters”, made a protest criticizing the scarcity and the high price of the product in the local market. The off-season, a period in which the harvest decreases due to natural conditions, is more rigorous this year. Even with the increase in production, the high demand for the foreign market would also have impacted and enhanced the current “açaí crisis”.

According to the coordinator of the açaí chain at the State Secretariat for Agricultural Development and Fisheries (Sedap), Geraldo Tavares, Pará has seen growth in production that supplies the domestic and foreign markets. The State went from 756.4 thousand tons of açaí in 2010 to 1.3 million in 2019. The planted area went from 77.6 thousand acre to 188 thousand acre.

"It is an ascending line, no matter how much we have mishaps along the way," says the agronomist, referring to the off-season. Today, Pará is isolated in production in the country, with 94%, while the second, the state of Amazonas, registered 67.7 thousand tons in 2019.

According to the president of the Union of Industries of Fruits and Derivatives of the State of Pará (Sindfrutas), Reinaldo Mesquita, the off-season harms the internal supply of açaí, but it does not impact on export due to the frozen stock, made by the exporting industries. For him, the off-season - and not the high demand between domestic and foreign markets - can harm the supply of the product.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

“We live in the harvest, from August to early December, with the rainy season. When the off-season starts, some supply problems start. The export is not without açaí because the industries have giant chambers, for example. In the off-season, production is stopped, but export sales continue, as there is stock in chambers. For this reason, the industries produce in four months what will be sold throughout the year. That is why, in the regional market, it is much more expensive and the product is lacking, because production really decreases”, he points out.

Consumption of açaí helps to keep the forest upright

To Reinaldo Mesquita, from Sindfrutas, the increase in the market for açaí also ended up opening new perspectives for riverside dwellers, who are at the base of the chain. According to him, about fifteen years ago the local producer often opted to cut the açaí tree to extract the heart of palm, with market value at the time - and with less effort - than the harvest and sale of the açaí.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

“The people from the riverside came to the city and realized that the effort and return with the sale of the heart of palm was more profitable. They would then prefer to cut the tree, and this is also a form of deforestation. Today, however, it is more profitable to have the tree upright, and harvest and sell the fruit. Currently, it is possible to observe the islands in our region with açaí trees, and the riverside has improved its structure, no longer leaving their home, and their island. The life of the riverside communities has improved, and this was all caused by the growth of the açaí market, both internally and externally ”, says Reinaldo.

Coordinator of the International Business Center (CIN), of the Federation of Industries of the State of Pará (Fiepa), Cassandra Lobato, highlights the importance of the development of the chain as a whole for the State, which started with the exportation only with the fruit’s juice. 

“The process of adding value to the product is something that we always aim for. To open the market, we start by sending only the input of açaí. But, over the years, Pará is no longer an exporter of commodities and now, with the puree also being exported, we no longer take only the juice to be processed abroad, we send the product ready to consume”, she said.

Cassandra affirms that the objective of completing this chain has a domino effect also in the local economic development, but it is necessary to make an effort to qualify the workforce. 

“For us it is wonderful, it means completing this chain. And a company that will work with the packaging, for example, not only adds value to the product abroad, but brings a complete development to the industry, because, as the final product drives the economy here, we hire more marketing professionals, and export managers”, she analyzes.

Initiatives seek to reduce the off-season problem

According to the experts heard by the report, the biggest obstacle to exports and the supply of the domestic açaí market is the off-season. The issue is economic and involves several segments of the production chain, it generates jobs and income to the coffers of the State.

The subject, therefore, is increasingly highlighted in the tables of authorities who discuss public policies for the sector. The Government of Pará, for example, coordinates the Açaí Productive Chain Development Program in the State of Pará (Pró-Açaí). The work includes agreements with institutions such as the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), a reference in the theme. The objective is to outline specific actions for the development of this segment of production in the state, which includes improvements in açaí seeds and a study of the fruit and cultivation areas, as well as training for producers, mainly in the practice of managing floodplain açaí forests.

“In 2019, a new cultivation area was launched, to cultivate açaí with high productivity and precocity, shortening the harvest time. The state financed this research for the next six years. It is a long-term investment ”, reinforces Geraldo.

Another initiative is the planting of selected seeds, using irrigation technology. “This will be the medium and long-term solution between the demand and the supply of açaí, in order to be able to supply our market with more tranquility. So we will be able to produce in the off-season. With this project completed, we will be able to benefit many more producers ”, he comments.

The agronomist also explains that the production of açaí only starts after four years of planting, which is another obstacle. “The result is the increase in açaí produced on land with irrigation, increasing the current production more concentrated in the island region. The condition of the high water supply is crucial, without water, there is no way to have açaí all year round. So you need to irrigate in the summer, with less rain, to guarantee production ”, concludes Geraldo.

Another government action for the sector is the State Equity Program of Açaí, also focused on several stages of the production chain, but with a greater focus on the final quality of the product offered, including to ensure hygiene conditions in handling to prevent the proliferation of diseases and credit offer for qualification and improvements of the small sellers of the product in the domestic market, known as “açaí beaters”, in reference to the practice of beating the fruit in specific machinery to obtain the açaí pulp.

Regarding the credit lines, Sedap highlights the financing of equipment for processing açaí. “For him, he has a very low interest credit line available. The açai beater can search and apply. But the government is also studying the future implementation of a credit line for irrigation of açaí in the state, to expand production ”, anticipated Geraldo.

For Cassandra, from Fiepa, the initiatives are major drivers of the opening of the state's borders to industries not only in Brazil, but in other countries. “These investments trigger all the economic development in our region. We start to attract industries because we have the entire chain in a different logistical position for exports. So, it is better for everyone to add value right here, completing the entire production chain ”, reinforces Cassandra.

In the local market, product had an increase of almost 30% only in 2021

High demand has inflated the price of açaí in the capital Belém, where it is consumed and sold per liter. According to the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese), only in the first four months of this year, the average value of the product rose about 27%, while the inflation registered in the period was 2.3%, according to the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) ), from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The average value fluctuated between R$ 22 and R$ 32 for the final consumer in April 2021.

For Dieese's supervisor, Roberto Sena, the current moment will require a closer look at public policies for the sector. “We are not against exports, but rather the lack of regulation for them. Today, they are the ones who dictate the price of the raw material in the market, resulting in this speculation of the price that does not fit in the pocket of the average beater. The problem is unbridled exports, because large companies buy half of the production ”, says the economist.

“This situation is not justified, mainly due to the volume of production of the product in the State. Pará continues to be the largest açaí producer in the country and unfortunately a considerable part of this production is exported and what remains here is very expensive, penalizing mainly the lower income population ”, he added.

The price variation is seasonal, but can be solved through dialogue and regulation. This is what the açaí producer Milton Santos, known as “Bahia”, defends, who has been working for more than twenty years with the cultivation of fruit on the island of Maracujá, a community near Belém. Daily, he crosses the Guamá River by boat to the ports of the capital to sell açaí. “I know that paying R$ 16 a liter is hard. But unfortunately it is the law of supply and demand ”, he argues, citing the value that is sold, on average, to professionals who will process the fruit to extract the pulp and resell it to the final consumer of the capital of Pará.

(Sidney Oliveira)

The producer claims that dialogue is the solution. “What can we do as producers to help scouts? And what can batters do for producers? Because when the price is expensive, it's bad for them, but it's good for us. When it's cheap, it's good for them, but bad for us. Then the two parties could talk. Because if it's good for me and good for them, it's good for everyone. And with that, the final consumer, the big beneficiary, wins ”, he says.

In addition to the off-season and export, the producer also highlights that he has been observing a drop in production in the area of his property. According to him, even in the worst period of the year, he was able to produce daily what today is produced in a week. “For three years now I have seen my production decline. Climate change, rain, sun and deforestation. This affects us who work with native açaí, without using fertilizer. I have noticed the decrease in açaí bunches. Years ago, in that same period, I took 12 bags a day, which I take in a week this year, ”said the producer.

For him, the production of other municipalities in the field area of the state also fell, since they are meeting the export demand more than previous years. “The more distant municipalities, which previously supplied the capital of Pará, are no longer supplying because the processing factories and those that export are buying. So only açaí from the islands close to Belém does not supply the local market ”, he commented.

A worker at the port of Palha, in the Condor neighborhood, Carlos Santos, mostly known as “Bacu”, agreed that the supply of stones coming from the islands closest to Belém fell this year as never before. He has worked for more than 10 years as a “barker”, popular name of the profession of those who resell the açaí from the middleman to the açaí beater or to the factories. “Açaí is expensive. It's missing. the frozen one failed and the natural one doesn't have much. Every year there is this problem, but this year it is bigger ”, says Carlos, citing “frozen”, the name of the pulp that comes from other neighboring states, such as Amapá.

(Tarso Sarraf / O Liberal)

Producer Rubens Almeida, who works with açaí from Barcarena, a municipality near Belém, cites a possible “crisis” of açaí, with the high demand for domestic and foreign markets. “This crisis has been going on for a few years now because our product, when it arrives in the capital, is disputed by buyers, in addition to being in a period of less production, due to the off-season,” he says.

Embrapa's agronomist, João Tomé de Farias Neto, explained that climate change, among other factors, may have reduced the productivity of the açaí trees of these producers. According to him, the changes are influenced by the climate, deforestation, the need for greater care with the soil and handling of the fruit, which can impact productivity.

For him, it is no use seeing export as a villain, but investing in new cultivation techniques. “Exporting does not deplete the local market, as industries buy only in the harvest, when the price is low, to process and sell in the off-season. In other words, what they export now, was purchased months ago. What would put an end to this problem would be the investment in cultivation on land. To increase this productivity even more in the state, due to the growing demand, would solve the crisis ”, he explained.