Brazil’s participation in world trade has exceeded 1% in the first nine
months of this year due to the accelerated rhythm of country foreign trade.
From the beginning of the year of 2003 to September 2004, country exports have risen 25.5%, eight percentage points over the world average, 17.4%.
This is the first time, in the last 19 years that Brazil answers to 1% of global sales.
These figures are included in a publication by the Foreign Trade Studies Center Foundation (Funcex), from Rio de Janeiro, in southeastern Brazil.
The bulletin also shows that sales by developing countries are growing more than those of nations considered rich.
While developed countries had sales growth of 15.5% from last year to September 2004, less developed countries exported 22.1% more.
“With the crisis, various developed countries devaluated their currencies, giving them greater product competitiveness,” stated the coordinator of the Economic Diplomacy course at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), Mário Presser, referring to the world recession between 1999 and 2002.
Argentina and Brazil were some of the countries that devaluated their currencies in the period.
According to Presser, growth in China has collaborated to evolution of developing country exports.
“China has great demand for raw materials,” he explained.
According to the Unicamp professor, inputs are just the products that developing nations most have to offer.
Brazil, for example, sells very much soy and wood to the Asian country.
Chinese president Hu Jintao, incidentally, is currently in Brazil to sign a series of protocols in the sanitary area that will favor domestic exports of meats, fruit, soy, and soy oil.
The report published by the Funcex shows the growth in foreign demand as one of the causes for development of Brazilian exports.
According to the publication, however, evolution of sales is not connected only to this factor, as Brazilian exports are growing at a greater speed than world exports.
While world trade evolved 18.2% in 2003, Brazilian sales rose 21.8%. In the year of 2004, global imports should rise 19.65% and Brazilian exports have already risen 33.1% up to September.
“The good performance of Brazilian exports in the years of 2003 and 2004 also incorporate structural aspects,” says the report.
Brazilian Recession Helped
Among them are Brazilian efforts to gain participation in some important markets and the importance that domestic industries have started giving to exports.
According to calculations by the Funcex, this year foreign trade should answer to 18% of Brazilian industry revenues, against 16% last year, and 11% in 1998.
Among other factors causing factories to seek the foreign market, the Unicamp professor mentions the contraction of the Brazilian economy.
“We were in a recession, the only option was the foreign market. Now, with the improvement of the domestic market, we must see if the companies are going to continue exporting,” he explained.
Nevertheless, the fact is that Brazil has gained market in economic blocks since 1998. Brazilian participation in United States imports, for example, has risen from 1.08% to 1.35% this year.
In the case of Argentina, the increase has been from 21.49% to 33.32%, in China, growth has been from 0.64% to 1.06% and in Chile, from 5.57% to 11.14%.
The report also shows growth of Brazilian sales to markets in which the country has smaller participation, among them Mexico, where exports rose 72% between 2002 and 2004, the Middle East, which imported 83.7% more from Brazil in the period, and Venezuela, with 63% growth in purchases of Brazilian products.
The Funcex study is based on figures supplied by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
ANBA ”“ Brazil-Arab News Agency
