Seventy three percent of Brazilian exporters were affected by the international financial crisis. The main impact of the crisis was the lower international demand, mentioned by 84% of those who answered the Special Study – Foreign Trade, developed by the National Confederation of Industries (CNI) and disclosed May 28, in Brazilian capital BrasÀlia.
Another 7% of those affected answered that the lack and/or more expensive export credit was the main problem.
The depreciation of the real against the dollar was mentioned by 6% of the industries that informed that their exports were affected by the crisis. CNI heard 1,307 companies throughout Brazil between the 1st and 27th of April. They were 203 large companies, 386 medium and 740 small ones.
Among the companies that had foreign sales affected, 60% plan to seek new and alternative markets for their products as a way to compensate the negative effects of the crisis. In this same universe, 51% said that they plan to lower costs and promote competitive gains (in this item, the companies could answer more than one option, that is why the percentage exceeds 100%).
Another 19% of industries said that they should start exporting new products and 18 said they should invest in quality and design. Apart from that, 15% said they should lower their prices and/or profit margins.
To Brazilian exporters, the foreign market should be less important this year with regard to gross revenues. To 17%, the participation of exports in company revenues should drop greatly. Another 31% believe that there should be a reduction, and 34% expect stability. On the other side of the scales, 16% believe that participation of foreign sales in gross revenues should rise and 1% said they should rise significantly.
When compared to the previous edition of the Special Study – Foreign Trade, promoted by the CNI, in 2005, the participation of imported inputs and raw material has grown, rising from 39% to 54% of those answering. The average participation of imported sector products, however, is low, 12%.
To part of the companies (40%), the use of inputs and imported raw material is from 1% to 9%. To 23% of the importers of inputs, the use is between 10% and 20%. On the other extreme, 5% of the companies use over 70% imported inputs and raw materials.
To the majority (62%) of the companies that import inputs and raw materials, imports may remain stable in terms of participation in total cost with inputs. To 11% of them, there should be an increase and to 1%, significant growth. To 18% of those using this kind of input, there should be lower participation. To 8%, the reduction should be great.
Of the companies participating in the Special Study – Foreign Trade, 53% said that they face competition with importers on the Brazilian market. To 51% of the companies, competition with these products should remain at the same levels.
To 29%, competition should grow. And to 4%, they should grow significantly. On the other hand, 1% of the organizations believe that competition with imported products should drop significantly and, to 15%, it should drop.
CNI
