Mylena Fiori
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Paulo - Industrial goods represent over half of what Brazil sells abroad. "We are aggregating value to our products," affirms the Minister of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, Luiz Fernando Furlan. The leading export sector continues to be transportation material, including automobiles, heavy trucks, auto parts, and agricultural machinery.

"The heavy truck and automobile sector is growing at a rate of 40% in relation to last year, when it had already grown 40%. We shall be doubling exports in two years," he commemorated. Furlan recalled that commodities are mistakenly considered the "mainstay" of Brazilian exports. "Few people are aware that, in the first half of the year, one of the sectors that experienced a drop in exports was the soy complex, which exported US$ 10 billion last year," he said. "It goes unnoticed that the profile of our exports is increasingly focused on industrial products. Over 55% of our foreign sales represent products with aggregated value."

In his forecast for the performance of the Brazilian economy ten years from now, Furlan is optimistic, stating that "Brazil will play an important international role in the areas of services, technology, engineering, informatics, telecommunications, and biotechnology.

Translation: David Silberstein