Packages make industry more attractive for foreigners
DCI
The inflow of direct foreign investments (DFI) in the Country has caught the attention of the market analysts for the positive side. In the first five months of the year it achieved the volume of US$ 10.7 billion and, in the accumulated in 12 months it gets near to US$ 44.4 billion. The distribution of these funds per sector shows the industry concentrated the most of it (54.5%). The group made up by agriculture, cattle raising and mineral exploration received 11% and the services sector represented 34.5% of the total.
"What can be seen in these first months of the year is that the industry gained participation, in part, because services lost and cattle raising maintained it", affirmed Rogério César Souza, of the Institute of Studies in Industrial Development (Iedi). "But it remains unknown whether this movement will continue", he added. According to Souza, the perspective is that this scenario comes true.
"First there was the initial terror of the crisis - generalized reaction - then Brazil started standing out as a country with an environment with clear rules for someone to invest and a solid economy. That caused the capital to land here", explained the economist of Iedi. Another factor Souza says has favored the industry was the perception of some foreign investors that the country could shelter a technology center or that spreading business having Brazil as a point of sales would be advantageous.
The uncertainty comes from the results of the performance of the commodities, which compose the first sector of the DFI. The fragility of the sector (agriculture, cattle raising and mineral extraction) is concentrated in the uncertainties the exchange rate causes on the businesses and its susceptibility to the international prices. "That is the case of ethanol. First there were tons of investments, and now only the major players are managing to survive, because in the sugar and alcohol sector there is profit only in large scale", he said.
The market condition is also an essential element, according to analysts, in the decision of inflow of resources to the Country. The oil and natural gas extraction, for instance, has registered an increase. In the comparison from May to May, the sector increased the funds nearly two times, going from US$ 73 million to US$ 130 million. The impact of the pre-salt discoveries can explain this movement. Extraction of metallic minerals, however, suffered significant fall - from US$ 147 million in May last year, to US$ 44 million.
For the commercial sector, in spite of the fall in relation to 2008, the performance of some businesses, like transports for example, was substantial. In May last year, US$ 3 million entered Brazil for the sector, which this year already amounts to US$ 192 million.