TRENDS AND IMPACTS OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRY AGRICULTURE

BRAZIL
Trends and impacts of foreign investment in
developing country agriculture
TABLE 1
FDI stock, by regions and economies in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1990, 2000, 2008
Region/economy FDI inward stock
1990 2000
US$ millions
2008
Latin America and the Carribean 110 547 502 487 1 181 615
South and Central America 101 977 424 180 978 056
South America 73 481 309 057 633 517
Argentina 7 751* 67 601 76 091
Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 1 026 5 188 5 998
Brazil 37 143 122 250 287 697
Chile 16 107* 45 753 100 989
Colombia 3 500 11 157 67 229
Ecuador 1 626 6 337 11 300
Falkland Islands (Malvinas) * 58* ..
Guyana 45* 756* 1 422*
Paraguay 418* 1 372 2 398
Peru 1 330 11 062 30 232
Uruguay 671* 2 088 8 788
Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of 3 865 35 480 41 375
Source: Adapted from UNCTAD, 2009
inward flows. Starting around 1995, inward FDI
flows became increasingly larger, albeit with
apparent random movements from year to year
(see Box 1).
Brazil had accumulated by 2009 a total of
US$372 billion in inward FDI stock. Though
these were destined mainly to the services sector
(Figure 2), agriculture represents an important
recipient, especially in recent years. According to
UNCTAD (2009), for the period 2005–2007, Brazil
received US$421 million, which corresponds to
the third largest amount of inward FDI flow into
an agriculture sector after China and Malaysia.
The Brazilian Central Bank reports an inward FDI
stock of US$35 billion up to 2009, as shown in
Figure 2.
Agriculture is an important sector of the
Brazilian economy, but only 10 percent of
the total agriculture-related sector inward FDI
stock was destined for primary production. The
vast majority of the inward FDI stock of the
agriculture-related sector, 90 percent, was made
30
FIGURE 2
FDI stock until 2009, Brazil
Million US $
Services
207 217
Other industries
100 147
Total Agric. related
34 991
Mineral extraction
29 745
Source: Prepared by the author based on data from Brazilian
Central Bank, 2010