EVOLUÇÃO DOS RESULTADOS DA BALANÇA COMERCIAL DO AGRIBUSINESS DO NORDESTE

Abstract

The integration of the agricultural sector along with the industrial and services segments, postulated in the agribusiness approach, has been quite emphasized in the literature. The mentioned integration becomes more important when one considers the advantages of external trade for the regional development. Indeed, the aggregation of value to products allows the greatest gain possibilities. However, there is a lack of regional information under such an approach. This article proposes a delimitation for the regional agribusiness. In addition, it analyzes the agribusiness share of the Northeast trade balance in 1992, 1995 and 2000. On those years, the agribusiness became more important for the commercial situation of the Region, and the agribusiness trade balance was always positive; In 2000, the Northeast’s trade deficit could have been 69,1% larger without the agribusiness’ contribution. Important structural transformations took place in the agribusiness’ trade balance during the studied period such as: the percentage increase in the import of inputs, the technological modernization of the agricultural sector and the considerable participation of processed and semi-processed products to produce trade surplus. Hence, the aggregation of value to products followed. The fruit agribusiness generated trade surplus (from 10,3% in 1995 to 22,0% in 2000). This fact ...