ECONOMIC & COMMERCIAL REPORT
Number 03 | January 2013 Embassy of India Brasília
Agriculture
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Economic and Commercial Report
Index Editorial Board Economic and Commercial Report Number 01 November 2012
Published by Embassy of India Brasília SHIS QL 08 conjunto 08 casa 01 - Lago Sul Brasília-DF
04 Brazilian Economy 12 Focus Story: REal-ity Check 14 2012 at a Glance
Editor: Raj Srivastava Texts: Yatin Patel Layout: Hadassah Levyski
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BRAZILIAN ECONOMY
T
New highway auctions in Brazil
he first phase of the auction for some
(DF/GO/MG) 1,177 Km; 6) BR163/262/267
7,500 Km of federal highways (seven
(MS) 1,423 Km; and 7) BR163 (MT) 822 Km.
parcels)
for
private
concessions
Another auction is planned for April for 5,700
(toll roads) will be held on 30th January. Six
Km of federal highways. This auction will also
competing groups : CCR, Odebrecht, Invepar,
have some “new rules” - the bidders must have
Ecovias, Triunfo and Acciona. Some “new rules”
net assets of between R$ 40 million and R$ 870
will be part of this process: 1) if the lines of
million depending on the parcel – to impede that
vehicles at toll stations exceed 200 meters or
mid-sized firms assume several concessions.
if takes longer than 15 minutes to go through
The case in point was in 2007 when the Spanish
a toll station – these toll stations would have
firm OHL (alone and not in a consortium) won
to be “opened” (no tolls collected). The seven
five of the seven concessions up for bid and
parcels are 1) BR101 (Bahia) 772 Km; 2) BR262
was unable to perform the needed investments
(MG/ES) 377 Km; 3) BR50 (MG/GO) 426 Km; and had to “sell out” to a larger firm - Abertis. 4) BR153 (GO/TO) 814 Km; 5) BR060/153/262
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BRAZILIAN ECONOMY
11th Round of Oil & Gas Blocks Auctions
B
razilian
Agency
responsible
for
was published on 11th January – 120 days
auctioning of oil/gas blocks (ANP) now
before the auction is to take place. Of these
plans to hold its 11th round of auction
blocks, 87 are on-shore and 85 are off-shore.
for 172 blocks of oil/gas exploration in mid-May
The last auction was in 2008 and the same “local
2012. To this end, a detailed map of these areas
content” rules will apply in this 11th round.
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BRAZILIAN ECONOMY
Amazon Starts Brazil Operations
A
mazon.comAmazon.com
and
R$299 (US$140), ending months of speculation
Google Inc both opened their digital
that it could arrive by acquiring a major
bookstores in Brazil on Dec. 6,
competitor. Brazil’s biggest bookstore chain,
hot on the heels of e-book offerings by local
Saraiva, is trying to sell its online busi¬ness.
booksellers in a fast-growing online retail market.
In Brazil, the Kindle will take on Samsung
The simultaneous introduction of the
and Apple tablets that often cost as much as
two
services
wide-open
twice their U.S. retail prices due to import tariffs,
nature of Brazil’s US$12 billion e-commerce
steep taxes and inflated local produc¬tion costs..
market. a
highlighted
Low
swelling
Internet
middle
the
Inc
penetration
class
have
and
spurred
bets on strong growth for years to come. Amazon will begin selling its Kindle e-book reader in Brazil in coming weeks for
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The offer
rival
e-books
computers Google’s
and
Google and
Play
service
will
movie
rentals
on
mobile
Android
devices
operating
running system.
BRAZILIAN ECONOMY
Bullet Train
T
he government released the terms for a
Total
Sept. 19 auction in which a concession
at R$7.7 billion (US$3.7 billion) with the
to operate a bullet train running from
government’s
Campinas to São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro will be sold. The
Development
Bank
(BNDES) providing 70% of the financing.
the group that will construct the track with costs
supplying the technology and the equipment.
estimated at R$27 billion (US$13 billion).
to
operate
capture
estimated
train,
concession
will
National
been
A second auction will be held to choose
I
bidder
have
a
40-year
winning
investments
the
Spain’s OHL Sells Brazil Assets
The Spanish logistics firm OHL sold its
Abertis-Brookfield
assets in Brazil and Chile to Spain’s
the Span¬ish firm holds a 51% stake.
Abertis
and
Canada’s
joint
venture
in
which
Brookfield.
Starting in 2007, OHL has captured
operating concessions for five federal highways and four state highways in the state of São Paulo, totaling 3,226 kilometers (2,004 miles). These will now be controlled by the
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BRAZILIAN ECONOMY
P
Airports of Rio and Belo Horizonte to be Privatized
resident Dilma Rousseff on Dec.
State company Infraero will have a 49%
20 announced that airports in Rio
stake in the new airport operators, the same
de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte will
condition that was established for the February
be privatized at a September 2013 auction.
privatizations despite Infraero’s poor reputa¬tion
“International airports
are
experience
good
shows
business,”
that as the current operator of Brazil’s largest airports.
Rousseff
Civil Aviation Minister Wagner Bittencourt
said, recall¬ing that last February, 20-year
said the new operators will have to invest US$5.7
concessions were granted to manage three
billion through the life of their concessions: US$3.3
airports, two in São Paulo and one in Brasília.
billion for Rio’s Tom Jobim airport and US$2.4
Rousseff said Thursday that any private
billion for Belo Horizonte’s Confins airport. The
entities participating in the September auctions
rules for the public tender will be announced inApril.
will have to include at least one international partner “with experience in running an airport
Bittencourt
also
announced
that
the
government is creating a new state company,
handling at least 35 million passengers a year.” Infraero Serviços, whose function will be to develop This operator must have “at least a
regional airports. In an initial phase, the government
25% stake” in the consortium. Companies
plans to invest US$3.6 billion to modernize
with majority stakes in the operations of the
270 small airports. The longer term objective
three airports already privatized will not be
is to upgrade 689 public airports, he added.
allowed to take part in next year’s auction.
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BRAZILIAN ECONOMY
Seven Countries Now Ban Brazil Beef
T
aiwan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and
China
Pereira, Secretary for Animal and Plant Health,
and South Africa who had already
after a meeting at the World Organization forAnimal
an¬nounced
Egypt
joined
suspensions
of
Japan,
“March is the deadline,” said Enio Marques
imports
after Health (OIE) headquarters in Paris on Friday.
it was learned that a cow in the southern
Brazilian officials have insisted that the
state of Paraná in 2010 had died with the
disease never appeared in the cow but the country’s
protein believed to cause mad cow disease.
delay in reporting the case has raised suspicions.
Government
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The seven countries that have suspended
warned these countries that they have until
imports account for 15% of Brazil’s beef exports
March to lift their bans or else Brazil will file a
but in the case of Egypt, the suspension applied
complaint at the World Trade Organization.
only to beef from Paraná, responsible for a small
According
portion of Egypt’s beef imports from Brazil.
to
officials
Agriculture
on
Ministry
Dec.
officials,
these countries have no grounds for their bans.
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BRAZILIAN ECONOMY
A
Only 39% of Brazilians Have Financial Investments
ccording
have
conducted
the total reached 52% but for classes C and
by the Federal University of Minas
D it dropped to 29%. Among persons with
Gerais,
investments, the preferred investment was savings
financial
to
a
only
survey
39%
investments
of of
Brazilians any
kind.
accounts, accounting for 27% of the total.
For the higher income classes A and B,
Brazil Ranks 69th in Corruption Survey
T
ransparency
Dec.
impossible to compare the results with past years.
5 released its annual perception of
Among Latin American nations, Brail trailed
corruption
International
among
176
on
countries.
Chile, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and
Brazil was ranked 69th, an apparent
Cuba. Among the BRICS nations, Brazil and
improvement from its 73rd position in 2011. But
South Africa were tied with the best rankings.
this year TI altered its methodology, making it
Education Investments Were 5.3% of GDP in 2011
A
ccording to the Ministry of Education,
its goal of investments equal to 10% of
the public sector in 2011 invested an
GDP by 2022 set by the National Education
amount equal to 5.3% of gross domestic
Plan.
At
the
current
pace,
investments
product in education.This was up from 5.1% in 2010. in ten years will total only 8% of GDP. The government, however, is far from
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2013
26 January
Happy Republic Day
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Agriculture in Brazil Agri-Gulliver in Lilliput
the agribusiness share reaching 23 percent. In
In the era of building the economic strength 2009, agriculture accounted for 19.3 percent on the pillar of Industrial production, Brazil´s of the labor force, or 19 million people, thus agricultural muscles bring quite an impressive strongly contributing to poverty reduction. diversity which is as pleasant as the one in the Agribusiness employment accounted for 2.7 Amazon jungle. Brazil ranks third among the percent of the labor force. world’s major agricultural exporters and fourth
It is no surprise that Brazil is today the
for food products. By cultivating agricultural world’s largest producer and exporter of a and oil resources, Brazil also ranks second wide range of products: soybean, coffee, cane worldwide for bioethanol production.
sugar, orange juice, meat and tobacco. In spite
This quasi-miracle has few important of weak governmental support to producers as factors in its base. Brazil has largest arable but compared with OECD countries, and a domestic yet to be utilized land reserve, strong exporting consumption that captures 79 percent of agricultural activities, radical economic reforms agricultural production, agribusiness accounts and an aggressive trade and influence policy. for over 38 percent of Brazil’s exports, and a Because of this, agriculture is still a driving $77.5 billion trade surplus in 2011, while the force of the Brazilian economy with 5.8 percent country was still a net importer of agricultural of GDP (against 2 percent in France), and with goods in the 1970s. In fact, agriculture has been
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stability through currency flows on one hand, and development of single-crop farming, and on the other, its contribution to energy together with man-made enhancement of soils security with bioethanol development.
through pastureland expansion and irrigation,
FOCUS STORY
a strong factor in the country’s macroeconomic country’s inland regions. The specialization
A significant expansion of credit and the have bolstered economic growth. Today, five simplification of the tax system, combined with commodities (soybean, sugar, meat, corn and a social policy for the underprivileged sections milk) account for 68 percent of the total national of the population under the Lula presidency agricultural production value, with soybean and (2003-10) strongly helped companies, spurred related products making up 38.7 percent of investment and boosted domestic consumption. Brazilian agribusiness exports. It is interesting Still
impacted
by
financial
crises, to note the factors which is turning Brazil into
agriculture’s growth has accelerated starting Gulliver when rest of the world is Lilliput as it is in 2003, partly thanks to a productivity model struggling to gain agri-productivity. based on high mechanization, improved concentration and significant labor force
social conflicts linked to land overcrowding
Policy changes
and colonization of new production areas,
Agricultural policy goals and programs
reserves. Encouraged to move away from
investment in agricultural research boosted in Brazil have changed significantly. The crop productivity by over 151 percent in 30 period between the mid 1960s to early 1980s years.
was characterized by massive government
In the framework of the ambitious intervention in agricultural commodity markets Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) launched primarily by means of subsidized rural credit in 2007, followed by a second program and price support mechanisms, including phase, investments in infrastructure should government purchases and storage of excess also advance agriculture, which has been supply. At that time, the agricultural sector in long penalized in terms of logistics in the Brazil was in general not competitive (except
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in tropical products such as coffee and sugar), poverty. This shift in agricultural policy goals is and was characterized by highly skewed reflected in government expenditures in a new distributions of farm income and land ownership focus area called the “agrarian organization”. with large, unproductive landholdings known Agrarian organization programs are primarily as “latifundios.” It was in the 1960s and 1970s related to land reform. Approximately 500,000 that the country started to urbanize as many new family farms were settled in expropriated rural poor migrated to large cities. During this land. In addition to land reform, the government period, agricultural policy had the objective adopted a set of policies targeted to “family of promoting food security of an increasingly agriculture” in 1995 - known as PRONAF urban population, while compensating the including subsidized credit lines, capacity agricultural sector for the anti-export bias of the building, research, and extension services. import substitution model that was common in developing countries at the time.
Interestingly
enough,
the
Brazilian
government created a new ministry in 2000 to
The debt crisis of the late 1980s forced run programs targeted to family farms and land the
Brazilian
government
to
decrease reform - the Ministry of Agrarian Development
support to farmers. But significant changes (MDA). Brazil is probably the only country in in agricultural policy goals were introduced in the world with two ministries of agriculture. 1995, which shifted priority to land reform and This reflects a supposed duality of farming in family farming in an attempt to alleviate rural the country - related to the skewed distribution of rural income and land ownership - and the misleading perception that agribusiness development necessarily leads to small farmer exclusion. According to the 1995 Census of Agriculture, farms with less than 10 hectares (24.7 acres) represent 49.7% of all farms in the country and hold 2.2% of all landholdings. With more than 500 hectares (1,235 acres), the largest farms represent only 2.2% of all farms, but own 56.5% of all landholdings. Federal government expenditures on agrarian organization programs increased from 6% in the Sarney administration to 45%
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Lula administration which started showing results.
Modernization Fostered by rising incomes, urbanization, economic
liberalization,
and
access
to
competitive raw materials, multinational food
The Brazilian government created a new ministry in 2000 to run programs targeted to family farms and land reform - the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA).
FOCUS STORY
of total expenditures on farm programs in the
processors and retailers entered or increased their investments in the Brazilian market during controlled by two French supermarket chains the 1990s. Increased foreign direct investment (Casino and Carrefour) and one US-based (FDI) by large, private agribusinesses in Brazil company (Wal-Mart), with a combined market displaced domestic competitors, increased share of 39%. industry concentration, and eliminated many
Concomitant to these structural changes
medium and small companies. As a result, in the post-farm gate stages of the agrithe market share of multinational corporations food system, agricultural production also in the domestic food market increased. For modernized and became increasingly capital instance, Brazilian affiliates of multinational intensive and integrated with upstream and agri-food companies generated 137,000 jobs, downstream supply chain participants. Tightly almost US$5 billion in exports, and sales of coordinated agri-food supply chains have been US$17 billion in 2000. Given the total value developed by the private sector - in particular, of food industry shipments in Brazil of US$58 large multinational food processors, fast-food billion, the aggregate market share of foreign restaurant chains and retailers - to cater to companies reached 30% in 2000. Among the increasingly differentiated domestic and export top ten food processors in the country, eight are markets. It must be noted that farmers in Brazil multinational firms with foreign headquarters. are increasingly exposed to markets that are Recent official data show that FDI inflow in the much more demanding in terms of food quality Brazilian agri-food processing industry totaled and safety, more concentrated and vertically US$8.2 billion between 2001 and 2004. The coordinated, and more open to international top-three food retailers in the country are now competition. www.indianembassy.org.br
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Research in full throttle Agricultural research is not new in Brazil. It began to take shape in the mid-1970s, when government launched Embrapa, a research institute that now exports its expertise in tropical agriculture to countries in Africa and Asia. Over the last 10 years the arrival of the genetically modified grains and growing investment in farm mechanisation laid the groundwork for the current boom. Brazil’s agriculture fulfils the country’s needs in almost all sectors - with wheat being the only significant import. “The research in tropical agriculture in Brazil is really impressive. Productivity has been increasing a lot and the country is diversifying its output,” Says Dr Guilherme Dias, professor of rural economy in the University of Sao Paulo.But with domestic markets growing at a slower pace than the output, the only way for producers is to look abroad.
Rise of Machines A growing number of farms in Brazil are becoming mechanised. According to industry data, sales of farm machines in Brazil
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increased 52% in the first four months this year compared with the same period of 2009. The government has some programmes to boost the sales of tractors to small farmers and it seems to be going well. But lack of skill is still one issue to be solved. Cheap labour has played a great part in the development of Brazilian agriculture, but on the other side, a lack of qualified workers is hindering further growth. “The machinery we sell has quite a lot of technology on board. Sometimes it’s hard to find people with qualification to operate them,” says Walter van Halst, a reseller of farm machines in the town Ponta Grossa.
Tudo Bem Brazil shows a different way of striking a balance between farming and the environment. The country is accused of promoting agriculture by razing the Amazon forest. And it is true that there has been too much destructive farming there. But most of the revolution of the past 40 years has taken place in the cerrado, (Tropical savanna eco-region of Brazil) hundreds of miles away. Norman Borlaug, who is often called the father of the Green Revolution, said the best way to save the world’s imperiled ecosystems would be to grow so much food elsewhere that nobody would need to touch the natural wonders. Brazil shows that can be done.
FOCUS STORY www.indianembassy.org.br
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Renuka do Brasil
Renuka do Brasil is one of the 10 largest sugar/ethanol producing groups in Brazil, in business for more than 30 years. In the middle of 2010, Shree Renuka Sugars Limited acquired the controlling stake of the company. The installed milling capacity is of 10.5 million tons divided between Mill Madhu, in Promissao, and Mill Revati, in Brejo Alegre, both cities located in the state of Sao Paulo, the largest sugarcane producing region in the world. Among its principal products are: sugar, companies in Sao Paulo state in Southeast ethanol, bioelectricity, and yeast. Renuka Brazil. Facilities include two modern mills and do Brasil has an amply integrated structure, integrated co-generation capacity- Madhu controlling not just all the industrial processes, (Equipav, erstwhile) and Revati (Biopav, but also all the agricultural processes, such erstwhile). as planting, cultivation, harvesting, and cane transport.
RdB has a crushing capacity of 44,400 TCD or 10.5 million tons/yr to produce sugar
SRSL acquired RdB from Grupo Equipav which is sold in domestic as well as export on July 7, 2010 and holds currently 59.4% markets. Distillery has a capacity of 4,000 equity stake.
klpd to produce both hydrous and anhydrous
RdB is one of the largest sugar/ethanol ethanol for Flex-fuel cars as well as industrial
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needs. RdB generates 221 MW of exportable Ivai on 19th March, 2010. power. Owned cane plantations at RdB cover 78,000 hectares of land.
RVdI has two mills – São Pedro do Ivaí (PR) and Cambuí (PR) – in the state of Parana
SRSL acquired 100% of Renuka Vale do with surrounding own cane plantations on
28,000 hectares of land.
RVdI has a crushing capacity of 15,120
Proximity to ethanol distributors and the TCD or 3.1 million tons/yr to produce sugar for port of Paranagua (551 km) along with the domestic as well as export markets. Distillery stake in logistics companies and a port terminal has a capacity of 1,310 klpd to produce both ensures lower logistics and export costs.
hydrous and anhydrous ethanol.
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Real-ity Ch eck The year that has just gone started with
of US dollars from the country. Government
some bright promises for currency speculators in
was not in mode of intervention as long as
Brasil as they were buying Brazilian real at 1.833
rates prevailed in the range of 2.0 to 2.10.
against USD and were thinking that happy days
“We will continue working for a weak real
are to be here forever. Unfortunately for them no
to boost competitiveness of Brazilian firms,”
story gets finished in January. On 27th December,
Mantega told a group of business people in an
2012 Real was at 2.04 against USD and those
event on 29th August, which was also attended
speculators lost their banquet, if we believe
by President Dilma Rousseff. Tough talk from
Mr. Guido Mantega, finance minister of Brasil.
government
officials
and
currency-market
Extremely cheap borrowing rates in USA intervention by the central bank then kept the real
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and Europe enabled speculators to borrow money
trading between BRL2.00 and BRL2.10, a range
at dirt cheap rate and they used to pump it into
that the market perceived as being “comfortable”
Brazil into government bonds which generally
for the government, from July through November.
had really high rates. From sky-high rate, it was
But when Brazil reported weaker-than-
impossible for the government to pump money
expected economic growth in the third quarter,
in the market to stimulate the flagging economy.
chatter that the government would consider a
This brought sky-fall for those who earned their
weaker informal trading band between BRL2.10
bread-butter and Ferraris from speculation.
and BRL2.15 caused the market to test the
Brazil responded by implementing targeted
central bank’s resolve amid a pickup in dollar
capital controls, while the Brazilian Central
outflows. The bank remained on the sidelines
Bank moved to slash interest rates--from an
until the currency approached BRL2.14, when
August 2011 high of 12.5% to a record-low
the bank sold dollars into the spot market
7.25% in October 2012 which triggered outflow
Some traders, however, said they believe the
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“In 2013, monetary policy should remain stable” Reginaldo Galhardo
“But the foreign-exchange rate has turned into a way to lower inflation, not increase economic activity.” Mr. Galhardo said he expects the real to trade between BRL2.00 and BRL2.10 to start 2013, but warned that the market shouldn’t be surprised if the currency trades below BRL2.00. Theory of relativity seems cakewalk in
real’s year-end weakness raised concerns at the
comparison of predicting currency market of
central bank about a spillover of inflation into 2013.
Brazil. So if we take a leaf from book of Mr.
Inflation is expected to end 2012 at 5.7%, above the
Mantega, we have heard this from him. “The
government’s 4.5% target but within the tolerance
currency war is not over, but I can say that we
band of plus or minus two percentage points.
are better positioned and we reversed a trend
“In 2013, monetary policy should remain
that was bad for Brazil, avoiding the inflow of
stable,”
said
Reginaldo
Galhardo,
foreign-
speculative capital.” 2013 will be all rock and roll.
exchange manager at Sao Paulo’s Treviso.
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namaste
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