Files
Abstract
In the last decade of the 20th century, the main enterprises of
integration in which Brazil was involved were MERCOSUR (Common
Market of the South America) and the negotiations about the formation
of FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas). The regional integration
together with the trade liberalization has deeply benefited the Brazilian
agricultural sector, and nowadays the country is ranked as the second
biggest agricultural product exporter country inside the FTAA. The effects
on commerce are directly related to the trade restrictions once imposed
on partners and on trade volume initially verified among these countries.
Considering this aspect, the goal of this study is to recognize the probable
effects of Brazil’s participation in FTAA in what refers to coffee, cacao,
soy, sugar, orange juice and meat exports in the period of 1999-2002.
This analysis was performed under the optics of the partial equilibrium
that was developed by Laird and Yeats (1986), so that, to estimate the
effects of first order, i.e. the reductions in the trade restrictions using the
elasticities approach. The conclusion made in relation to the simulations
that have been made to the period of 1999-2002, with total liberation from
trade restrictions imposed by FTAA’s country members to the Brazilian
exports, is that, for the group of products studied, the trade creation effect
turns out to be superior to the trade diversion one, showing clearly the
competitiveness of Brazilian agribusiness inside FTAA.