Structural changes in the Brazilian insertion in the international trade of capital goods: 1991-2000

Abstract

The article contains a summary of the results of a research project on the impact of the structural transformations in Brazil’s economy in the ’90s, particularly the commercial opening,for the country’s insertion in the international trade of capital goods. Starting from the indicators calculated by Resende and Anderson (1999), it analyzes – on the basis of foreign trade coefficients, economic-financial indicators and the specialization profile – the reconfiguration of Brazil’s insertion in the sub-sectors that produce capital goods for electric energy, transport and typically industrial ones. The data suggest that in the ’90s there was a process of adjustment and reconfiguration. This process included the consolidation of a new pattern of Brazil’s insertion in the international trade since the end of that decade. It showed higher import coefficients and a more modest increase in exports, but no indications that the competitive fragilities related to the specialization in low value-added products with low technological sophistication and a reduced exporting dynamism had been overcome.

Key words: international trade, capital assets, Brazilian industry.