The rise of coffee in the Brazilian south‐east: tariffs and foreign market potential, 1827–40^†

Abstract

The rise of coffee in the Brazilian southeast: tariffs and foreign market potential, 1827-40 † By CHRISTOPHER DAVID ABSELL * During the period spanning independence in 1822 to mid-century, Brazil's southeast shifted from specializing in the export of cane sugar to coffee. This article explores the mechanism underlying this shift by exploiting a wealth of new monthly data on the Brazilian and international coffee and cane sugar markets during the period 1827-40. It argues that the timing of the coffee boom was driven by a rapid increase in foreign market potential associated with the abolition of the tariff on coffee in the US. It estimates that American tariff reform served to increase coffee exports and African slave imports by around one-fifth. American firms, with indirect links to the slave trade, rapidly became major players in the export market in Rio de Janeiro, while non-American firms, traditionally specialized in continental European destinations, turned their sights on the American market.

Non-tradables in Brazilian economic history

“…In the mid-19th century, the coffee boom broke with the extensive pattern of growth. The origin of the boom was the expansion of international demand which, after 1860, raised the international price of coffee (Absell, 2020). The export boom was reinforced by the reduction in transport costs provided by the railroads, which opened for cultivation the vast areas of terra roxa in the western areas of São Paulo (Matos, 1974).…”

European strategic trade policy and Brazilian export growth during the nineteenth century

“…What's more, the volume of British imports of Brazilian coffee was dwarfed by the United States; in fact, by mid-century, the United States was importing more Brazilian coffee than Hamburg, the United Kingdom and France combined. Although the German market was no doubt an import destination for Brazilian producers, it was coffee's duty-free status in the American market from 1832 and subsequent dramatic expansion of consumption that served to fuel coffee's growth until late into the century (Figure 6) (Absell 2020).…”

Resenha do livro: A Passos Lentos. Uma história econômica do Brasil Império. Marcelo de Paiva Abreu, Luiz Aranha Corrêa do Lago, André Arruda Villela. Editora Almedina, 2022.

“…Trabalhos recentes sugerem que a história econômica brasileira precisa ter uma perspectiva ainda mais global do que tradicionalmente teve. Absell (2020), por exemplo, mostra que o rápido aumento nas exportações de café na década de 1830 decorreu da redução nas tarifas de importação dos EUA.…”