Análise do grau de competitividade do setor de biscoitos do Brasil no século XXI

Abstract

The present work aims at analyzing the degree of competitiveness of the sector of cookies of Brazil between 2000 and 2008, based on measures of consumption, imports, exports and production of the largest producers. The study employs the Revealed Comparative Advantage Index (RCA) to measure the degree of competitiveness of this sector, considering seven groups of products at 6-digit level of the Harmonized System (HS). The results show that in only two groups Brazil presented a RCA above unity in 2008, with only one showing an increase in the index between 2000 e 2008. One worrying and paradoxical issue is related to the fact that the country has competitiveness in a product which the global market is rather small. Meanwhile, in that group where the country shows the smaller competitiveness, the global volume of trade is the largest, reaching US$ 12,9 billion in 2008. In this sense, one may conclude that despite having a large production of cookies, Brazil is quite timid in foreign markets, what could be attributed to factors such as lack of vision and weak relationships with the global world.