Determinants of competitiveness of major exporting countries of soybean complex in the international market

Abstract

Brazil in the 2000’s became the first or second world largest exporter of soybean and derivatives, sided by the United States and Argentina. Soybean exports represent the most important source of currency: about 30% of the agriculture exports, corresponding to 10% of the total export value. Which are the perspectives of expansion of the world market, with an increasing participation of the East Asian countries, and the possibilities of Brazil, Argentina and United States to attend them? The objective of this paper is to describe the main competitivity factors of the exporting countries (Brazil, Argentina and USA) and analize the recents policies and general perspectives. The method is the comparison of the elementary competitivity factors of these countries. To assess Brazilian competitivity in the relation to competition factors that compose the global or systemic competitivity are analyzed. The results indicated that production costs favor Brazil and Argentina, in spite of the Brazilian problem related to its infrastructure. For Brazil, particularly, we conclude that the world market expansion appears promising, given its possibilities of largely increasing production, its competitive costs and possible improvement of its infrastructure.