ABSTRACT
The growth in world merchandise trade exceeded the increase in merchandise output, pointing to the on-going specialisation in the world economy, in particular in the area of manufactures. Major changes in the commodity structure of Brazil's manufactured exports in the early 1980s were in the decline in shares of transport equipment, non-electric machinery and processed food and beverages, and in the increase in their shares in steel and chemical products, and shoes. Manufactured exports continued to be promoted by the system of fiscal export incentives, which, while largely unchanged up to 1984, sustained the profitability of producing goods for export during the recession. In the early 1980s, the Brazilian industry continued to be well protected against international competition. In 1985, the effective rate of protection for the total manufacturing industry was 39.0 percent, while the agricultural sector yielded a negative protection rate of -16.4 percent.
