Saudi Arabia was also the second main destination for chicken exports, losing only to Russia. The product was the fourth most traded among the basic items and total sales totaled US$ 589.2 million.
Syria, with purchases of US$ 389.5 million, was the third main buyer of sugar in bulk, the third main item in the Brazilian basket of partly manufactured products, losing only to Russia and Iran.
Some countries in the Middle East and North Africa are also among the so-called non-traditional markets in the month. Mauritania is in the third place, with imports of US$ 15.8 million, an increase of 868% in comparison with July 2007.
Syria figures in the seventh position in this list, with purchases of US$ 42.5 million, growth of 259%. Sudan comes in the 13th position, with import of US$ 6.6 million, 103% more than in July last year. Bahrain was in the 23rd place, with purchases of US$ 30.5 million, growth of 36%.
In total, Brazilian exports to the Middle East reached US$ 838 million in July, an increase of 20.7% over the same month in 2007. To Africa, the shipments generated little more than US$ 1 billion, growth of 30.5%.
In general there was an expressive increase in sales of all categories of Brazilian products. Exports of manufactured products generated US$ 8.653 billion, 17% more than in July last year. In this area, the highlights were fuels, vehicles and auto parts.
Revenues with ethanol shipments grew 66%, fuel oil sales rose 61%, generator sales grew 46.3%, aircraft, 31.2%, tractor sales, 29.4%, vehicle engines, 20%, auto parts, 16.2% and cargo transport vehicles, 14.5%.
Foreign trade of Brazil broke records in July. Exports of US$ 20.4 billion, imports of US$ 17.1 billion and bilateral trade of US$ 37.6 billion were the greatest results in the country's history.
Anba