ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that, despite the country’s notorious competitive cost, Brazilian meat exports have been losing international market share. It discusses proposals and tools that could allow Brazil to compete in a more promising manner with other large agribusiness players on the world market, using concrete strategies and tools that are similar to those of Brazil’s competitors. Brazil evolved from being primarily an exporter of typical tropical products that made up the country’s colonial history, such as coffee, sugar and cocoa, to a dominant exporter with a global role in several important production chains centred at food, beverages, fibre and bioenergy industries in the twenty-first century. Brazilian exports of poultry increased according to world demand. Markets opened often unilaterally, without any pre-defined strategy or major initiatives by the Brazilian government or the private sector. Nonetheless, Brazilian chicken export volumes increased by roughly 15% per year between 2000 and 2012 and by nearly 20% in US Dollars during the same period.
