Vinícius Gustavo Trombin

Food and fuel

The use of corn for ethanol has an incremental impact on the supply of corn. However, corn supplies domestically and exports of corn internationally have generally remained steady despite rising ethanol production. According to analyses by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the amount of corn used for ethanol production in the state increased from 29% in 2009 to 34% in 2010, while corn exports and corn for feed were virtually unchanged.

World consumption of fruit juices, nectars, and still drinks

In 2009, the world consumed 117.7 billion gallons of industrialized still drinks. Of the total volume, 77% were consumed in 40 countries, with 23.5 million liters in the juice category, 17 million in the nectar category, 42 million in the category of still drinks, and 35 million in the category of powdered and concentrated juices. In the period from 2003 to 2009, the consumed volume of fruit-based beverages increased by 30.2%. However, since much of this growth came from increased consumption in lower social classes in emerging countries, the increase in the sales volume occurred primarily in the categories of nectars and still drinks, and therefore does not reflect an increased demand for orange juice at 66° Brix, because these are categories of beverages that are diluted in water instead of 100% juice (Graph 37)

Impact of climate change on citrus growing

In recent years, several reputable organizations have warned about the risks of climate change to world agriculture. Things are no different in the citrus sector. Data from the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) show that there has been a gradual increase in average temperature in several Brazilian states. The comparison is obvious when comparing the averages between two 30-year periods, i.e. from 1930 to 1960, in relation to the numbers obtained in the measurements from 1960 to 1990. Although the curve has remained the same, one can clearly see that the state of Sao Paulo is warmer. In some regions, such as Limeira and Sao Jose do Rio Preto, the numbers obtained between 1995 and 2009 indicate that the temperature is, on average, about two degrees Celsius higher than the historical average (Figure 6).

Breakdown of the price of orange juice on the retail market

In order to give a breakdown of the costs incurred on orange juice up to the purchase thereof by the end consumer, this topic is dedicated to the breakdown of the price starting with the final sale value as reconstituted juice on the shelves of retailers in Germany, the biggest consumer of Brazilian FCOJ, and ending with the residual value that would cover orange production costs and profit margins of growers and industries in Brazil. Some factors, such as poorly accessible data and differences in legislation, prevented a broader analysis of the European market, which accounted for 71% of Brazilian FCOJ exported in 2009.

Peeling back the citrus in Brazil: mapping and quantification of the Brazilian citrus chain.

The CHAINPlan developed by Neves (2007) is a practical process for developing strategic plans for production chains and was applied in several projects in Brazil. One of the initial steps of this method is mapping and quantification of production chains. This step provides knowledge of the size of the production chain analysed, in terms of social and economic magnitude of all the links that comprises it. Here this method is presented in detail, in order to be useful to researchers worldwide interested in mapping and quantifying a chain. Subsequently, we present the results of applying the method in one of the most important agribusiness chain in Brazil, the citrus sector. In this research, the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the citrus sector for the 2008/09 crop year was estimated at

Strategic plan for the sugar-energy value chain in Brazil

6.5 billion. The Citrus GDP per hectare cultivated is twice the Sugarcane GDP per hectare. Here is probably the more updated and profound radiography of the citrus sector in Brazil. This material should serve as a stimulus to decision-making public and private, besides it shows the intimate interconnection between the links in the chain and its ability to generate revenues, taxes and jobs.

Pests and diseases in the Brazil’s citrus belt

To create a global market for food and bioenergy, it is necessary to develop expertise in the planning of agribusiness systems that will be increasingly transnational and that must be sustainable. According to Zylbersztajn and Neves (2000) and Batalha (2001), the agribusiness systems (chains) hold the following basic elements for their descriptive analysis: the agents, the relations between them, the sectors (inputs, agriculture, industry and distribution), the facilitating organisations, and the institutional environment. It is essentially a macro-analysis of the product flow from suppliers to final consumers.

The need for food and fuel production and the role of Brazilian agribusiness

This is undoubtedly a major threat to the Brazilian citrus industry. During the last decade, four diseases were responsible for the eradication of 39 million citrus trees in the citrus belt of Sao Paulo and Triangulo Mineiro. As a consequence, the average annual mortality rate, which previously hovered around 4.5% per year, jumped to 7.3 %. Adopting an average yield of two boxes of oranges per tree, it is estimated that citrus canker, CVC, sudden death, and citrus greening accounted for an annual reduction of around 78 million boxes, which - when compared with 317 million boxes harvested in 2009/10 - represents a decrease in harvest of roughly 20% (Table cxm16).

Concluding remarks - FDI: suggestions for regulations, public policies, and incentives

This chapter is divided into six main sections. The first section looks at the global financial and economic crisis and the impacts on the food sector and emerging nations. The second section focuses attention on the problem of increasing food demand and, as a consequence, rising food prices. The third section is a proposal on how society should work together to try to solve the growing food problem. Then, in the fourth section, we present a background and overview of Brazil’s agricultural production. The fifth section highlights the importance of agribusiness for the Brazilian economy. We finish in the sixth section with a scenario for TNC investments, along with some trends and global issues.

Specialty of the major producing countries

This chapter has been developed using the authors’ experience with projects that attracted international investments for regional development, and the experiences of the suppliers, farmers and other stakeholders. The field research and interviews conducted for this study, examining the impact of FDI on sugarcane business in Brazil, also contributed to the analysis. In short, we will discuss the importance of receiving international investments for all nations, but mostly for developing nations, and we will try to bridge the ‘gap’ in the analysis.