Rising exports reinforce agriculture as a lever for economic recovery

Agribusiness represented almost 48% of total Brazilian exports in the first four months of the year; Using technological solutions is the way for the sector to maintain its prominence.

From January to April 2022, national agribusiness exports grew 5% in volume and 34% in revenue compared to the same period of the previous year, according to research by the Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics (Cepea/USP). In the economic sphere, the record scenario not only strengthens the sector's growth, but also boosts the entire Brazilian economy. With its participation in the trade balance in this first four months of the year, agribusiness represented almost 48% of the country's total exports, generating sufficient resources to cover the trade deficit in other sectors of the economy.

In addition to the growth in volume of exported products, the rising revenue is also due to the international economic scenario, in which prices in dollars rose by around 28%, bringing a favorable impact on transactions in the segment. Year-to-date, agribusiness exports already total US$48,56 billion. The main destinations involve China, Europe and the United States.

A large part of these positive results are due to investment in innovation: technology is responsible for more than 60% of total Brazilian productivity in agribusiness, according to a study by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa) in partnership with the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea) and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). And the speed of implementing innovations in the sector has grown increasingly, bringing increases in productivity and process efficiency.

For the president of Hexagon's Agriculture division, which develops digital solutions for the field, the use of technology is the way for Brazil to keep production and exports high. "We are talking about more agile and optimized processes. Bigger and better productions, with fewer inputs, costs and agricultural pesticides. This way, we will be able to continue advancing in production without increasing costs, generating an increasingly greater profit for the segment", explains Bernardo de Castro.

In 2021, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Brazilian agribusiness grew 8,36% compared to the previous year. According to statistics, the sector had a share of approximately 27,5% in the national GDP, according to the Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics at USP. The value represents the segment's largest contribution to Brazil's GDP since 2004.