Competitiveness of Brazilian soybean exports

Abstract

The objective of this article was to analyze the indicators of competitiveness in the foreign trade of Brazilian soybean from the year 2004 to 2014. The problem under study deals with the competitiveness of this commodity in the international market. The applied methodology initially used the descriptive statistics, seeking to demonstrate through tables and graphs the evolution of the soybean exports in the international market. The data of the largest exporters worldwide were used to relate the volume (ton) and the value (US$) of this product. The economic indicators used to verify competitiveness were the Constant Market Share model and the Revealed Comparative Advantage Index. The main exporting countries are the United States, Brazil, and Argentina, respectively. The results indicated that the Brazilian soybean exports in the analyzed period have Revealed Comparative Advantages in comparison to other exporters. The Constant Market Share indicated that the main source of growth for soybean was the growth of world trade. It demonstrates that Brazil is strongly influenced by soybean's international market price. It is concluded that Brazil has competitiveness in the market of soybean, presenting high standards of efficiency. Brazil also makes use of similar resources to those of leading producers, and has the potential to increase its participation through its technology, productivity and territorial capacity in order to increase production.