10/22/2008 10h24
The chances of a Brazil for exportation
O Estado de S. Paulo 10/22/2008
This is a year of celebrations in the history of Brazil's foreign trade. The first of them, in April, was the bicentenary of the Royal family's arrival in the Country and the decision of opening the ports to friendly nations. Then began the Brazilian participation in what later would be known as globalized market. Another date celebrated in 2008 is ten years of the creation of Apex, the Brazilian Agency of Exportation and Investments Promotions. Although in different situations and proportions, both facts were important milestones in the dissemination of Brazilian products in the international market. National exportations have been increasing, the agenda has been diversifying and more countries are in the list of commercial partners. The Brazilian government path was quite long in 10 years of Apex. More than 100 countries, in all continents, were part of the 5 thousand actions directed by the agency, among sectorial fairs, trade and prospecting missions, business rounds, special events, and road shows. For Alessandro Teixeira, president of Apex and of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies, Waipa (international entity that represents all commercial promotion agencies), despite the expected retraction of consume in the world - consequence of the world economic crisis -, there are reasons for optimism. Mainly for the smaller companies, to have an agency to do the negotiations with the international market means an important support. It is a way, for example, to participate in fairs abroad without having to spend much. In addition to take groups of Brazilian businesspeople to the main events outside Brazil, the agency brings potential importers to know the national production. According to the most recent data of the Ministry of Development, referring to September, the North region was the one that had the biggest growth rate in sales abroad - a 36.8% high over last year's same month. It was the best performance of regional expansion in the period. Also according to Mdic, the Brazilian exportations totaled US$ 20.025 billion in September, a 22.1% high in comparison with the same period of 2007. Importations, on the other hand, went 39.5% up and totaled US$ 17.263 billion. In spite of the growing good performance of the North Region in the exporting agenda, the Southeast keeps the leadership, having shipped US$ 11.023 billion last month, equivalent to 55% of the Brazilian international sales. São Paulo, alone, was responsible for 27.62% of the national exportations in the period (US$ 5.530 billion).
