Giuliana Napolitano
São Paulo – Tocantins (in northern Brazil) participation in total Brazilian export is still small, but has been rising. After rising more than 300% between 2001 and 2002, the state foreign trade has risen by 181.2% this year, reaching US$ 46 million. The volume answers to only 0.06% of the US$ 73 billion shipped from Brazil in the period, but it was considered a great conquest to the local government.
"We have grown very much, and I can say that we have only just started exporting," stated the state vice governor and agriculture, livestock, and supply secretary, Raimundo Nonato Pires dos Santos, to ANBA. According to him, apart from the "blessed" land and climate, greater expansion should take place due to the investment made in infrastructure over the last 15 years.
The two most traded products produced by Tocantins are soy and beef, which answer to over 95% of the basket. As the list of products is not diversified, the government has decided to bet on infrastructure to manage to move produce and reach the foreign market. "The objective is to establish basic infrastructure in the state," stated Santos.
According to the secretary, around 5,000 kilometres of highways have been paved, the rural electrification process has reached 10,000 properties, and the Araguaia-Tocantins waterway has started showing results. For coming years, the target is to join the state railway lines to the Carajás and North-South railway systems, making it easier for state produce to reach Itaqui port, in the neighbouring northeastern state of Maranhão, "the closest rout to Europe," explains Santos.
Interest in Europe has a good reason: around 60% of state production goes there. Participation in then Arab market is still small, yet varied: among the 25 largest buyers of state products are five countries in the region – Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
Mission to Asia
The plan, however, is to increase business with as many countries as possible, declared Pires dos Santos. For this, the secretary will be participating in an Agriculture Ministry mission heading to Asia today (22) to increase Brazilian meat export to the region. The mission, to visit Japan, Korea, and Taiwan also includes businessmen and representatives from sector associations, such as the Brazilian Beef Industry and Exporters Association (Abiec).
The mission was scheduled after the discovery of a case of mad cow disease in the Untied States, which is the main supplier of meat to the Asian countries. "We are going to start a more aggressive process," stated Santos. "We must show that Brazilian cattle is free of mad cow disease," he added.
Just 15 years of history
Despite betting on beef, the main product exported by the state of Tocantins continues being the soy complex. Grain shipping alone totalled US$ 40 million last year, 88% of all that the state sold in the period.
This is a much lower volume than what was exported by the rest of the country – the southern state of Paraná alone, for example, sold the total of US$ 1 billion in grain last year. Due to the investment made, however, the secretary believes that Tocantins may "start appearing as a new warehouse for the country". "We are an extremely new state, and are still poor, but we have been implementing policies that will lead to growth," explains Santos.
The vice governor refers to the fact that the state of Tocantins was created little over 15 years ago, in 1988, when the country new constitution was passed. Before that, it was part of the centre-western state of Goiás.
From then on, the state has been run by almost the same politicians. Pires dos Santos, for example, who is currently in the Liberal Party (PL), but has already been in the Progressive Party (PPB), was vice governor in 1995, when the state was run by José Wilson Siqueira Campos from the Liberal Front Party (PFL). Campos, in turn, was elected the first Tocantins governor, in 1989, and returned to the position in 1995 and, again, in 1999. Last year, Marcelo de Carvalho Miranda (PFL) was elected, supported by the Campos family.
Tocantins has the lowest per head income in the country, around US$ 600, whereas the country average is US$ 1,800. The state economy contributes to just 0.1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – one of the lowest percentages in the country, together with Roraima. The economic base comes from the service sector, which answers to over two thirds of the state GDP. In second comes agriculture, with around 20% and, in last, comes industry, with less than 10%.
