Pandemia de Covid-19 no Brasil: impactos socioeconômicos, importância e desempenho do setor agropecuário exportador

Abstract

The objective of the research is to discuss the importance of the Brazilian agricultural export sector as an inducer of growth in the context of the covid-19 pandemic. Effects of the pandemic on socioeconomic indicators such as unemployment rate, inflation, household consumption and GDP, and on variables of the international trade of animal protein, with a focus on beef, pork and chicken products, are highlighted. For this purpose, secondary data from the period 2000-2020, obtained from IPEA, MDIC and IBGE were used, as well as statistics from the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporters (ABIEC) and information obtained in the form of bibliographic research. It was possible to verify that the measures of social distancing adopted to prevent contamination, such as closing the trade, contributed to the economic slowdown, which resulted in an increase in unemployment. However, income transfer policies implemented by the federal government contributed to the maintenance of household consumption. The performance of the agro-export sector, in turn, was a strong ally of the Brazilian economy in this context. The sector, which has been showing significant growth rates since the beginning of the 2000s, expanded its results with the help of new commercial partnerships with countries in Asia, which boosted the beef, pork and chicken market. However, it is concluded that this strong concentration also generates a strong dependence on these markets, since changes in trade relations may lead to a sudden drop in exports and compromise the entire production chain with significant impacts on the Brazilian GDP.