São Paulo – Exchange pressure and the consequent loss of competitiveness of the Brazilian capital goods industry as against foreign competitors has caused changes in the consumption of machinery and equipment in the country. Currently, six of every ten machines bought by Brazilian companies are not produced in the country.
According to the Brazilian Machinery Manufacturers Association (Abimaq), around 40% of apparent consumption of Brazilian capital goods, which reached 100 billion in 2010, refers to products made by the domestic industry.
This division between national and imported goods is exactly opposite to what took place in 2004. Slightly over six years ago, six of every ten machines consumed in the country were Brazilian, according to the Abimaq. "Of the country’s apparent consumption of machinery and equipment, 60% was made here until not so long ago. This has been inverted," said Carlos Pastoriza, the organisation’s vice president, on Wednesday (23).
According to him, this inversion is mainly due to the greater imports of machinery from Asian countries. These countries were the ones that made the greatest use of appreciation of the Brazilian real against the dollar, boosting their sales to Brazil. Some, in fact, even depreciated their currency on the global market to ease their sales in the country.
*Translated by Mark Ament
