Brazil has clearly become more dependent on commodity exports. This is what a report by the United Nations Agency for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to be released in September will show. According to the UN agency’s concept, a country is “commodity dependent” when at least 60% of its merchandise export revenue comes from these products. In the case of Brazil, the report will point out that exports of basic products by the country represented 56.5% of total exports in 2008-2009. Ten years later, the share rose to 66.6%. Unctad released another study in which Brazil does not yet appear as dependent on commodities, but Argentina does (about 70% of export revenue). But technicians say the situation is dynamic and needs to be monitored frequently. According to that study, 64% of developing economies depend on commodity exports, compared with 60% a decade ago. The survey calculates that without changes in the current situation, it would take 190 years for a commodity-dependent country to halve the gap between its current share of commodities in total exports compared to non-dependent countries, on average.
Sources: Valor Econômico/Datamar News