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What are the reasons for this growth?
Although industrial growth had accelerated after the end of the first world war in 1918, Brazil remained dependent on agriculture for the bulk of its exports. Farming of one sort or another was the dominant economic activity. Even as recently as 40 years ago, about 65% of the workforce was still employed in agriculture and over 80% of exports were based on primary agricultural products (like coffee and cotton).
Industrial development had been given a boost by the second world war from 1939 to 1945. Shortages of all kinds of manufactured goods, capital and consumer, forced Brazil to consider making its own. ("Capital" goods are goods used to produced other goods - one example is a machine tool, another is a tractor.)
Steel is the basis of many modern industries and the first integrated steel mill had been built in the 1940s at Volta Redonda in the State of Rio de Janeiro. This was a major achievement and an important foundation for future industrial growth.
In 1955, President Kubitschek took office and began expanding Brazil's extractive industry (particularly oil production). He also expanded manufacturing industry in both capital goods and consumer durables ("durables" as the name implies are products which "endure" for some time - you can keep on using them. Cars and washing machines are good examples. Customer "consumables" are those which you consume and they're gone. Food and drink are good examples).
Foreign car manufacturers were invited to develop plants, and the stateowned oil company Petrobrás, created in 1953, the only one allowed to search for and produce Brazil's oil; and the steel industry was encouraged to develop. The pace of industrialisation continued during the 1960s and 1970s. But problems began to emerge. Much of the economic activity in the 1970s was investment in infrastructure roads, water supplies, hydro-electric schemes. This investment was financed with foreign loans, and substantial interest rate increases in the 1980s helped trigger a debt crisis in the whole of Latin America.
But by the mid-1990s, Brazil's manufacturing position had recovered and production was growing rapidly with aircraft, cars, trucks and tractors, machinery of all kinds, electrical and electronic equipment, petrochemicals, fertilisers and textiles all showing excellent results
The most dynamic manufacturing sectors are now steel, transport, petrochemicals, engineering - and cement.
Comments
These notes are aimed at students studying for Edexcel B geography A Level for the 'Population and the Economy' section, though will be suitable also for people studying with different exam boards and at different levels.
They were originally submitted by _poptart_ in this thread on TSR Forums.
