Pandemic reduces brazilian exports of high complexity goods. Emergency public actions are necessary to prevent an even worse regression of the economy’s competitiveness

The effects of the crisis were much more conspicuous on the export of high complexity goods than on the export of low complexity goods. Exports fell more in states with a more complex production structure while imports fell more in states with a less complex production structure.
Export gains were concentrated in the North and Midwest regions, in addition to the states of Pernambuco, Piauí, and Alagoas. All other states recorded a drop in exported goods.
17 Brazilian states saw their exports of high complexity goods drop over 20% in comparison to the first half of 2019.
Only 9 of the 27 states saw an increase in imports compared to 2019: Roraima, Piauí, Pará, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Alagoas, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, and Distrito Federal (DF).
10 states increased their high-tech imports, which tends to reinforce the loss of competitiveness of the domestic production in these sectors.
The vast majority of states had a positive trade balance in low complexity products and a negative trade balance in high complexity products.
There was an expressive growth (6.4%) in China’s participation as the main destination of Brazilian exports between the first semesters of 2019 and 2020 and a drop of 3.5% in the participation of the USA.

We express our gratitude to BDMG for supporting the
research that served as the basis for this Technical Note.