São Paulo- The companies supported by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) exported the equivalent to US$ 23.14 billion from January until October 2010. The figure is equivalent to 16.43% of total exports from Brazil during the period, which reached US$ 198 billion. For 2011, the agency believes that the figure should be maintained. The figures were disclosed this Monday (13th), at a press conference in the Brazilian capital Brasília, by the president of the Apex, Alessandro Teixeira.
Although he believes that exports should stabilize, Teixeira also forecasts a scenario of possible growth. "In the event that Europe should recover over the next few months, we should exceed US$ 200 billion in 2011, which would be a historical feat for a country that exported only US$ 60 billion eight years ago," said the agency’s president according to a statement issued by the Apex.
Teixeira underscored that data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) indicate that exports should grow 7.1% worldwide, exports from developed economies should rise by 6%, and foreign sales from developing economies should increase by 9%. As for imports, the data show that North African and Middle Eastern imports should increase by 6.5%, Asian imports should rise by 13.1%, and Eurozone imports, by 4.1%.
During the press conference, Teixeira pointed out to the increase in the Apex’s figures over the last few years. "We have gone from a 7% share in the Brazilian export basket as of 2007 to 16.43% this year. We have also gone from supporting 46 productive sectors in 2006 to 80 in 2010. Regarding the number of enterprises, we supported around 3,000 by 2006 and now they are 12,930."
The president of the Apex also highlighted the market diversification work carried out in 2010. "We had a strong intelligence work in order to map out and seek to open up new markets in countries that we did not reach," he explained, adding that now, "the sectors supported by the agency know exactly which markets are more favourable, who are the major competitors, who are the leading buyers, they possess crucial information from the perspective of results."
The increased number of international events was also touched on by Teixeira. In 2006, the Apex organized 400 events; in 2010, the total was 940. "There have been 4,000 events, resulting in significant interaction between Brazilian companies and foreign buyers," he said.
In addition to fairs abroad, the Apex supports the coming of foreign buyers and journalists to Brazil to attend the main industry-oriented events in the country, such as CouroModa, São Paulo Fashion Week, among others.
Regarding the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI), Teixeira underscored the agency’s work to help bring important investment into the country, as was the case with the IBM and General Electric research centres and RIM (the maker of Blackberry telephones) and HCL (the world’s third largest software company) manufacturing plants. He also claimed that Brazil should attract US$ 30 billion in FDI this year, and that the figure should repeat itself in 2011. For 2012, Brazil is expected to raise approximately US$ 35 billion in FDI.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum