China’s global economic influence and the strategic options open to the Chinese market are the main theme of a conference that got underway Thursday, October 13, in the Transamerica Hotel in São Paulo. The conference ends today.
In 2004, China was the third largest importer of Brazilian products and the prime market for Brazilian soybeans and iron ore. Brazilian export revenues from its sales to China in 2004 totaled US$ 5.43 billion, an 83.4% increase in relation to 2003.
Between January and July of 2005, the Chinese market absorbed US$ 3.499 worth of Brazilian goods, 4.4% more than during the same period last year.
Brazilian imports from China, on the other hand, amounted to US$ 1.9 billion during the first seven months of this year, up 47.2% in comparison with the same period last year.
From 1999 to 2004, trade between the two countries expanded more than 800%. China currently accounts for 7% of global industrial production, trailing only the United States and Germany.
The conference represents the first time that specialists on the Chinese economy are meeting in Brazil. The visitors include Nicholas Lardy, an American professor at the Institute of International Economics, in Washington; Huang Yasheng and Richard Locke, professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Stoyan Tenev, chief economist in the East Asia Department of the International Finance Corporation; Jim Lennon, executive director of the commodity division of the Macquarie Bank; and Lois Dougan Tretiak, director of the Economist Intelligence Unit in Beijing.
The International Conference on the China Effect is sponsored by the Brazil-China Business Council.
Memorandum on Conservation
Brazil and China have signed a memorandum of understanding for mutual cooperation in the area of conservation of forest biodiversity. The document was signed by minister of Environment, Marina Silva, who is visiting Beijing, and the head of the Chinese Forestry Service, Jiang Zehui.
ABr